Spatial distribution of triatomines (Reduviidae: Triatominae) in urban areas of the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Environmental changes have a strong influence on the emergence and/or reemergence of infectious diseases. The city of Salvador, Brazil--currently the focus of a housing boom linked to massive deforestation--is an example in point as the destruction of the remaining areas of the Atlantic Forest around the city has led to an increased risk for Chagas disease. Human domiciles have been invaded by the triatomine vectors of Trypansoma cruzi, the flagellate protozoan causing Chagas disease, a problem of particular concern in urban/suburban areas of the city such as the Patamares sector in the north-east, where numbers of both the vector and human cases of the disease have increased lately.