Impact of a community-based bug-hunting campaign on Chagas disease control: a case study in the department of Jalapa, Guatemala

Kota Yoshioka

doi:10.1590/0074-0276108022013013

Abstract

Chagas disease control requires an innovative approach to strengthen community participation in vector surveillance. This paper presents a case study of a community-based bug-hunting campaign in Guatemala. The campaign was implemented in 2007 in the following three stages: (i) a four week preparation stage to promote bug-hunting, (ii) a one week bug-hunting stage to capture and collect bugs and (iii) a 10 week follow-up stage to analyse the bugs and spray insecticide. A total of 2,845 bugs were reported, of which 7% were Triatominae vectors, such as Rhodnius prolixus and Triatoma dimidiata. The bug-hunting campaign detected a five-six-fold higher amount of vectors in one week than traditional community-based surveillance detects in one year. The bug-hunting campaign effectively detected vectors during a short period, provided information to update the vector infestation map and increased community and political awareness regarding Chagas disease. This approach could be recommended as an effective and feasible strategy to strengthen vector surveillance on a larger scale.

Highlights

Chagas disease control requires an innovative approach to strengthen community participation in vector surveillance
In 2000-2001, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Guatemala conducted an entomological baseline survey in 64 communities of San Pedro Pinula, which are located under 1,600 masl, using the man-hour manual search method (Schofield 2001)
The baseline survey found that 23.4% (15/64) of the communities were infested with Rhodnius prolixus and that 59.4% (38/64) of the communities were infested with Triatoma dimidiata

Summary

Introduction

Chagas disease control requires an innovative approach to strengthen community participation in vector surveillance. The bug-hunting campaign effectively detected vectors during a short period, provided information to update the vector infestation map and increased community and political awareness regarding Chagas disease. This approach could be recommended as an effective and feasible strategy to strengthen vector surveillance on a larger scale. The central strategy for vector surveillance is community-based vector reporting and selective vector control, such as insecticide spraying (Schofield & Dias 1999, Schofield et al 2006). This paper recommends a community-based bughunting campaign as an innovative approach for the control of Chagas disease. The impact of the bug-hunting campaign and political opportunities for large-scale implementation will be discussed

Methods

Results

Conclusion