Considerations on the Epidemiology and Transmission of Chagas Disease in the Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon has long been considered a non-endemic area for Chagas disease, in spite of the well-known enzootic cycle involving a variety of wild mammals and triatomine bugs of this region (Rodrigues & Melo 1942, Deane 1964, 1967), whose natural environment has already been much altered by human activities in ways that are important for vector-host balance (Coura 1990, Fraiha Neto et al. 1995), necessiting attention and specific programs of epidemiological vigilance (Feitosa 1995). Chagas disease merits close attention at this time: there is growing number of cases that now exceeds one hundred cases in the past few years, the peri-domestic cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi is still in the adaptation phase in the region, and the time is opportune for the adoption of vector control measures