Adult triatomines occasionally fly into artificially lit premises in Amazonia. This can result in
Trypanosoma cruzi
transmission to humans either by direct contact or via foodstuff contamination, but the frequency of such
behaviour has not been quantified. To address this issue, a light-trap was set 45 m above ground in primary rain-
forest near Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil and operated monthly for three consecutive nights over the course
of one year (432 trap-hours). The most commonly caught reduviids were triatomines, including 38
Panstrongylus geniculatus
,
nine
Panstrongylus lignarius
,
three
Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus
,
five
Rhodnius robustus
, two
Rhodnius pictipes
,
one
Rhodnius amazonicus
and 17
Eratyrus mucronatus
. Males were collected more frequently
than females. The only month without any catches was May. Attraction of most of the known local
T. cruzi vec-
tors to artificial light sources is common and year-round in the Amazon rainforest, implying that they may often
invade premises built near forest edges and thus become involved in disease transmission. Consequently, effective
Chagas disease prevention in Amazonia will require integrating entomological surveillance with the currently
used epidemiological surveillance.
