A LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY APPROACH FOR A NEGLECTED DISEASE IN RURAL AREAS OF ARGENTINA

Resumen

In recent years, there have been problems in controlling the population of the main vector of Chagas disease, Triatoma infestans in the Great Chaco region over Paraguay and Argentina. This study was carried out in an area of the Chaco region, La Rioja province (Los Llanos), where almost 50% of the houses in the region have dirt floors, no tap water and/or sanitary infrastructure. The main economic activity on these rural areas is goat breeding where corrals provides one of the best refuges for T. infestans. The study aimed to analyze the reciprocal effects between spatial patterns and ecological-human processes in the Los Llanos region. We propose that the landscape patterns can be measured and quantified through satellite images and that this characterization could be used to analyze a possible association between the presence of stockbreeding structures and the peridomestic infestation patterns found in the study area. On the basis of the correlations identified, it would be possible to indirectly relate the vegetation covering with the life quality of the rural inhabitants of Los Llanos region.