Presence of Rhodnius prolixus Stäl, 1859 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Oaxaca, Mexico, ten years after the certification of its elimination

According to local citizens, the spraying of insecticide is carried out in households where triatomines are reported; however, houses that are abandoned or not inhabited are excluded from the spraying. [...]there is a possibility that these non-sprayed sites function as a refuge for triatomines. There is also a possibility that these triatomines developed resistance to the pesticides used, because resistance of R. prolixus has been reported to different pesticides, mainly pyrethroids (Vassena et al. 2000, Flores-Ferrer et al. 2018). [...]it is important to note that the areas where triatomines were collected are semi-urban, and most of the sampled houses are built mainly with adobe, wood, metal sheets, and palm, and this last material is considered a natural habitat of R. prolixus (Dujardin et al. 1998). [...]the municipalities sampled in this study are within the area where human populations are reported to be exposed to triatomines infected with T. cruzi (Ramsey et al. 2015). [...]the households and yards colonized with R. prolixus located less than 20 m from dwellings in an area in which some residents have been diagnosed with Chagas disease suggests active vector-mediated T. cruzi transmission. The determination of the geographical distribution of triatomines is fundamental to better understanding the ecoepidemiology of Chagas disease, considering environmental changes such as: deforestation, agriculture, shifts in land use, and climatic changes that can alter the displacement of vectors and reservoirs in new areas, directly influencing transmission dynamics of T. cruzi.