Programa Nacional de Chagas, Ministerio de Salud, La Paz, Bolivia.
Infect Genet Evol. 2010 Mar;10(2):350-3. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2009.12.006. Epub 2010 Jan 7.
Triatoma infestans, now eliminated from most of South America by control campaigns, has been and still is the main Chagas disease vector due to its ability to colonize rural dwellings. The traditional hypothesis put forth to explain T. infestans adaptation to the synanthropic environment rests on the domestication of wild guinea pigs, one of its natural hosts, by Andean tribes about 5000 BC. Here we present two new hypotheses, based on organized human social activities. The first involves maize production, storage and distribution during the Inca period. Maize granaries could host wild rodent populations that would attract sylvatic T. infestans that were later dispersed during maize distribution. The second hypothesis is associated with the contemporary Urkupiña Virgin festival, near Cochabamba, where thousands of pilgrims gather for rituals in an area that is part of a sylvatic T. infestans focus, thus favoring the contact with the insects and leading to their passive dispersal.
布氏锥虫（Triatoma infestans），通过控制活动，现在已从南美大部分地区消除，但由于其在农村民居中的定居能力，它仍是恰加斯病的主要传播媒介。传统假说认为，它对人栖环境的适应是由于野生豚鼠（其天然宿主之一）被安第斯部落于公元前 5000 年驯化而来。在此，我们提出了两个新假说，这两个假说都是基于有组织的人类社会活动。第一个假说与印加时期的玉米生产、储存和分配有关。玉米谷仓可能会容纳野生啮齿动物种群，这些啮齿动物会吸引栖息的布氏锥虫，而这些锥虫随后会在玉米分发过程中被分散。第二个假说是与现代乌里昆皮亚圣母节（Urkupiña Virgin festival）有关，在科恰班巴附近，成千上万的朝圣者聚集在一个作为栖息的布氏锥虫集中地的地区举行仪式，这有利于与昆虫接触，从而导致它们被动传播。
