Comparison between two artificial shelter units and timed manual collections for detecting peridomestic Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in rural northwestern Argentina.

A new artificial shelter unit was compared with segments of bamboo cane lined with pleated filter paper for detecting peridomestic Triatoma infestans Klug at Amamá and nearby rural villages in northwestern Argentina. The new shelter unit consisted of a black plastic, wide-mouthed jar with a screw cap on the top, and a removable central structure made of pleated corrugated paper. In devices exposed from February to December 1999 at 24 sites positive for T. infestans by timed manual collections with an irritant in April 1999, the cumulative percentage of sites with any sign of infestation detected by the shelter unit increased from 71% after 2 mo to 96% after 10 mo, whereas bamboo cane units concurrently detected only 12-42% of the sites. Sensitivity increased with time of exposure and the abundance of T. infestans per site. In 19 sites negative for T. infestans by inspection, shelters increasingly detected infestation at 16-63% of sites after 10 mo, whereas the bamboo canes only detected one infestation. Shelter units inspected three times over an 11-mo period were significantly more sensitive than a single manual search with an irritant performed in March 2000. Our study provided conclusive field evidence that the shelter unit was more sensitive for detecting peridomestic T. infestans than were timed manual searches, the standard reference method, or bamboo cane units. Rapid timed searches by skilled bug collectors during the early surveillance phase overlooked many peridomestic populations that, in the absence of control, inevitably would increase in abundance and repopulate treated areas.