Vectors

Chagas disease is the most important parasitic disease in Latin America, as in Mexico, where 1.5-2% of blood donations are contaminated with anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibody. Through environmental and population based stratification, we estimate that 91 million inhabitants are at risk (78% through residence), 1,768,376 individuals are infected, and mortality may oscillate between 25,500 and 63,000 individuals/yr (830 of these are under 5 yrs old). The disease incidence is estimated at 69,000 cases/yr and approximately 530,500 individuals are currently in chronic phase. More than 96% of the transmission occurs via the vector, and niche modeling with GARP estimates that 67% of the transmission occurs via one of the 6 primary phyllosoma complex species.