Intrusive versus domiciliated triatomines and the challenge of adapting vector control practices against Chagas disease

Chagas disease prevention remains mostly based on triatomine vector control to reduceor eliminate house infestation with these bugs. The level of adaptation oftriatomines to human housing is a key part of vector competence and needs to beprecisely evaluated to allow for the design of effective vector control strategies.In this review, we examine how the domiciliation/intrusion level of differenttriatomine species/populations has been defined and measured and discuss how theseconcepts may be improved for a better understanding of their ecology and evolution,as well as for the design of more effective control strategies against a largevariety of triatomine species. We suggest that a major limitation of current criteriafor classifying triatomines into sylvatic, intrusive, domiciliary and domesticspecies is that these are essentially qualitative and do not rely on quantitativevariables measuring population sustainability and fitness in their differenthabitats. However, such assessments may be derived from further analysis andmodelling of field data. Such approaches can shed new light on the domiciliationprocess of triatomines and may represent a key tool for decision-making and thedesign of vector control interventions.