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Dynamics of Panstrongylus Megistus Infestation: The Primary Vector of Trypanosoma Cruzi in Minas Gerais/Brazil

2022; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.4123011

1556-5068

Flávio Campos Ferreira, Liléia Diotaiuti, Carlota Josefovicz Belisário,

Insect-Plant Interactions and Control

Panstrongylus megistus is considered one of the primary species of epidemiological importance for Chagas disease transmission in Brazil due to its wide geographical distribution, good ability to invade and colonize the houses, and high rates of Trypanosoma cruzi natural infection. Your importance in Minas Gerais has been recognized and is responsible for high prevalence rates of Chagas disease in the west of the state. Studies conducted in the municipality of Jaboticatubas show that P. megistus is still the most captured vector in the region, even after 40 years of uninterrupted actions of the control in the municipality. Despite the importance of the species, its population dynamics is very little studied. Consequently, important genetic processes such as genetic diversity and gene flow between environments have not yet been well characterized. In this context, this work presents a population genetic analysis at the microgeographic level using microsatellite markers in P. megistus obtained from Jaboticatubas to better understand their infestation dynamics in the region. Most loci presented Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium due to the excess of homozygotes. The pairwise Fst indicated the absence of gene flow between samples. The values of F is revealed that these are structured populations. The number of immigrants between the populations indicated one migrant every two generations. The results indicate a long stay of this species in the colonized environments, with rare dispersal to other locations. Such results differ from that observed for Triatoma brasiliensis and Triatoma dimidiata , species that present constant movement, even after colonization of the artificial environment, and similar to the behavior of Triatoma infestans . Thus, the study reinforces the importance of continuous entomological surveillance in the areas of occurrence of P. megistus to avoid the installation and formation of new foci of household infestation in the region.