[Seroepidemiology of Chagas disease in two rural populations in the municipality of Costa de Oro, at Aragua State, northern Venezuela].

Introduction: Chagas disease has been a public health problem in Latin America for many years. In Venezuela the disease is mainly distributed in the rural populations and endemic areas with an overall seroprevalence index of 8,3% for the year 2000.

Objective: The infection seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi was determined in the human population younger than 16 years.

Risk factors for Trypanosoma cruzi human infection in Barinas State, Venezuela.

This study attempted to quantify the transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in children less than 15 years of age in Barinas State, Venezuela and investigate risk factors for infection. Among 3,296 children, 4 (0.12%) were seropositive.

Leishmania and sand flies: proximity to woodland as a risk factor for infection in a rural focus of visceral leishmaniasis in west central Venezuela.

Objective: To relate entomological, epidemiological and geographical data to understand the transmission dynamics of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in a closed focus in western Venezuela.

Methods: Spatial and temporal patterns of Lutzomyia pseudolongipalpis, the most prevalent phlebotomine sand fly species (99.7%), were studied in El Brasilar, Curarigua, Lara State, Venezuela, a small rural community of 20 dwellings and 118 inhabitants.

The burden of the Leishmania chagasi/infantum infection in a closed rural focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Lara state, west-central Venezuela.

A prospective study was conducted in El Brazilar, Curarigua, Lara State, Venezuela, a small rural focus of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) to investigate the burden and the evolution of Leishmania infection in the human and canine population. The incidence of the disease from February 1998 to February 2002 was recorded and two cross-sectional surveys using the leishmanin skin test (LST) and immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) were carried out. The dipstick test with recombinant r-K39 antigen was also applied in 2002.

Mixed domestic infestation by Rhodnius prolixus Stal, 1859 and Panstrongylus geniculatus Latreille, 1811, vector incrimination, and seroprevalence for Trypanosoma cruzi among inhabitants in El Guamito, Lara State, Venezuela.

Mixed infestation of nymphs and adults of Rhodnius prolixus Stal, 1859 and Panstrongylus geniculatus Latreille, 1811 was detected in 3 (15%) of 20 dwellings in El Guamito, an endemic focus of Chagas disease in Lara State, Venezuela. In one of the houses, both species were positive for Trypanosoma cruzi: 14.3% (R.