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Animal Hosts
for Triatoma infestans
The first
indigenious case of Chagas' disease reported in the
United States was a ten-month old white female from
Corpus Christi, Texas, on July 28, 1954. The disease
had spread through triatomine bugs and opossums. An
important ecological factor influencing transmission
of chagas is the association of triatomines with synanthropic
animals. Synanthropic animals are those animals that
live around humans.
They range
from pets, livestock, and rodents to opossums, foxes,
deer, and other animals that, in part because of deforestation
and  encroachment
upon forests, live close to humans. Rats and mice play
a lesser role in providing blood meals and a major role
as predators of triatomine bugs, as are chickens and
rats, thus somewhat suppressing the triatomine populations.
Because these animals serve as blood sources, they contribute
considerably to maintaining or increasing population
densities of domiciliary and peridomiciliary vectors.
Animals also serve as vehicles to disperse triatomines
to other parts of the world. The migratory wood stork
(Mycteria amaericana), as one known example,
carried Rhodnius prolixus (an important vector)
from the north of South America to Central America and
Mexico.
Veternary
researchers and animal environmentalists have yet to
address the impact that Chagas' disease has upon domestic
and sylvatic animals. Many animal species face extinction
in mountaineous and tropical regions of the Americas.
These animals suffer from deforestation and debilitation
by chagas, so chagas affects biodiversity and our environment.
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