Triatoma infestans

Triatoma infestans is a blood-sucking bug (like all the members of its subfamily Triatominae) and the most important vector of Chagas disease. It is widespread in the Southern Cone countries of South America; that is, in Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil and Peru. In all these countries T. infestans is almost an exclusively domestic species, except in Bolivia where sylvatic forms have been recorded in rock piles in association with wild guinea pigs. This region has joined the control intervention called Southern Cone Initiative managed by the PAHO.