title: Chagas disease and housing improvement in northeastern Brazil: a cross-sectional survey.
abstract: Chagas disease was investigated in two new settlements of landless rural workers inhabiting prefabricated, triatomine-proof houses and in four neighboring older communities where mud huts were still well suitable for vectors. Through a cross-sectional survey and entomological assessment, we surveyed 148 houses/families in the two new settlements and in 47 houses/families in the four older localities. We determined seroprevalence of Chagas disease through IFI and Elisa (eluates) assays and searched for vectors in the domestic and peridomestic environments. Seroprevalence reached 0.6% (3/466) in the new settlements and 0.8% (1/115) in the older communities. Triatomines were not found in the new settlements, while 7 Triatoma brasiliensis, 4 T. pseudomaculata, 1 Panstrongylus lutzi, and 145 Rhodnius nasutus were collected in the older localities. In addition, a colony of T. brasiliensis (n = 55) was encountered inside a school attended by children of the region. Parasite strains isolated from the insects were characterized as T. cruzi I. Despite the low prevalence of Chagas disease in both scenarios, entomological surveillance must be strengthened and housing improvement reinforced in order to control vector transmission. The risk of infection by the vectors was lower in the settlements of improved homes, where conditions for colonization of the peridomestic environment by transmitting insects were not observed.
authors: Laboratório de Ecoepidemiologia da Doença de Chagas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Avenida Brasil, 4365, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 21045-900, Brazil, mmlima@ioc.fiocruz.br.
authors: Marli M
authors: MM
authors: Lima
authors: Filipe A
authors: FA
authors: Carvalho-Costa
authors: Helena K
authors: HK
authors: Toma
authors: José
authors: J
authors: Borges-Pereira
authors: Tiago Guedes
authors: TG
authors: de Oliveira
authors: Otília
authors: O
authors: Sarquis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000662:veterinary; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014225:Triatominae / Q000469:parasitology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification