Vector-borne transmission of Chagas disease in urban areas of Argentina has been an overlooked phenomena. We conducted the first comprehensive cross-sectional study of domestic infestation with Triatoma infestans and vector infection with Trypanosoma cruzi in a metropolitan area of San Juan, Argentina. Our results document the occurrence of T. infestans infected with T. cruzi in human sleeping quarters. In this urban setting, we also show that infestation was associated with construction materials, the presence of chickens, cats and a large number of dogs that can provide blood meals for the vector. Our findings reveal new challenges for vectorial control agencies.

BACKGROUND The eco-epidemiological status of Chagas disease in the Monte Desert ecoregion of western Argentina is largely unknown. We investigated the environmental and socio-demographic determinants of house infestation with Triatoma infestans, bug abundance, vector infection with Trypanosoma cruzi and host-feeding sources in a well-defined rural area of Lavalle Department in the Mendoza province. METHODS Technical personnel inspected 198 houses for evidence of infestation with T. infestans, and the 76 houses included in the current study were re-inspected. In parallel with the vector survey, an environmental and socio-demographic survey was also conducted. Univariate risk factor analysis for domiciliary infestation was carried out using Firth penalised logistic regression. We fitted generalised linear models for house infestation and bug abundance. Blood meals were tested with a direct ELISA assay, and T. cruzi infection was determined using a hot-start polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the kinetoplast minicircle (kDNA-PCR). FINDINGS The households studied included an aged population living in precarious houses whose main economic activities included goat husbandry. T. infestans was found in 21.2% of 198 houses and in 55.3% of the 76 re-inspected houses. Peridomestic habitats exhibited higher infestation rates and bug abundances than did domiciles, and goat corrals showed high levels of infestation. The main host-feeding sources were goats. Vector infection was present in 10.2% of domiciles and 3.2% of peridomiciles. Generalised linear models showed that peridomestic infestation was positively and significantly associated with the presence of mud walls and the abundance of chickens and goats, and bug abundance increased with the number of all hosts except rabbits. MAIN CONCLUSIONS We highlight the relative importance of specific peridomestic structures (i.e., goat corrals and chicken coops) associated with construction materials and host abundance as sources of persistent bug infestation driving domestic colonisation. Environmental management strategies framed in a community-based programme combined with improved insecticide spraying and sustained vector surveillance are needed to effectively suppress local T. infestans populations.

La emigración gallega ha sido una de las migraciones europeas más importantes que ha venido a la América Latina, especialmente a Argentina y Venezuela, durante la década del cincuenta del siglo XX. En el presente trabajo se hace una revisión de la diáspora gallega hacia nuestro país destacando algunos aspectos vivenciales de ese periplo migratorio: la difícil situación de emigrar; el largo y penoso viaje; la llegada; las primeras impresiones y las formas de articulación en el país receptor. Todo ello bajo la urdiembre de las redes sociales que dan forma y sentido a los movimientos migratorios.

Galician emigration has been one of the most important migrations from Europe to Latin America, especially to Argentina and Venezuela, during the decade of the fifties of the twentieth century. In this work, a review of the Galician diaspora in our country is made, highlighting some vivential aspects of the migratory journey: the plight of emigrating; the long and painful journey, the arrival; first impression and forms of articulation in the host country. All under the warp of social networks that give shape and meaning, to migratory movements.

The purpose of this research was to study traumatic and dissociative experiences in a sample of Spanish patients with psychosis and their relationship to hallucinations. Seventy-one patients with psychosis filled in a dissociative experiences scale (DES-II, Carlson y Putnam, 1993), a trauma questionnaire (TQ, Davidson, Hughes, y Blazer, 1990) and the PANSS delusion and hallucination items (Kay, Opler, y Lindenmayer, 1988). The results showed that subjects who had hallucinations and delusions had undergone a significantly larger number of traumatic experiences in childhood, but not as adults. Subjects with hallucinations and delusions had higher scores in dissociation than those who did not have these psychotic symptoms. It was also found that subjects with hallucinations had had experienced more physical abuse and threats in childhood, while there were no differences in the type of trauma for presence or not of delusions. Finally, of the factors studied in this research, only depersonalization predicted the presence of hallucinations, and none of these factors predicted the presence of delusions.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue estudiar experiencias traumáticas y disociativas en una muestra de pacientes españoles con psicosis y su relación con las alucinaciones. Setenta y un pacientes con psicosis completaron una escala de experiencias disociativas (DES-II, Carlson y Putnam, 1993), un cuestionario de traumas (TQ, Davidson, Hughes y Blazer, 1990) y se les administró también los ítems de delirios y alucinaciones de la PANSS (Kay, Opler y Lindenmayer, 1988). Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos que presentaban alucinaciones y delirios habían experimentado un número significativamente mayor de las experiencias traumáticas en la infancia, pero no en la edad adulta. Con respecto a la disociación, los sujetos con alucinaciones y delirios presentaban puntuaciones altas en disociación que los sujetos sin estos síntomas psicóticos. Respecto al tipo de trauma, se encontró que los sujetos con alucinaciones presentaban más abusos físicos y amenazas en la infancia, no encontrándose diferencias en el tipo de traumas en función de la presencia o no de delirios. Por último, de los factores estudiados en esta investigación, solamente la despersonalización predijo la presencia de alucinaciones, encontrándose que ninguno de dichos factores predijo la presencia de delirios.