Feeding sources and natural infection of Belminus herreri (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) from dwellings in Cesar, Colombia.
Belminus herreri, originally described from specimens collected in Panama, was considered entirely silvatic until to 2000 when it was found for the first time in a domestic habitat in Colombia. In 2001, during a new search of houses in the Department of Cesar, Colombia, 121 specimens were collected. Study of their feeding sources using an ELISA test revealed that 96% of these specimens had fed on cockroaches (Blattidae). However, a small proportion of these B. herreri specimens also showed the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi in their gut contents, suggesting a possible role for these insects in the epidemiology of Chagas disease.
Sandoval
Claudia Magaly
CM
Centro de Investigaciones en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Santander, Colombia.
Duarte
Rosemere
R
Gutíerrez
Reinaldo
R
Rocha
Dayse da Silva
Dda S
Angulo
Victor Manuel
VM
Esteban
Lida
L
Reyes
Marlen
M
Jurberg
José
J
Galvão
Cleber
C
D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000635:transmission; D003105:Colombia; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents; D006798:Housing; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014225:Triatominae / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification