Persistence of Chagas disease active transmission among dogs in Venezuela rural community

objective: to determine human and canine seroprevalence, entomologic indexes and risk factors for chagas’ disease transmission in a rural community. method: 48 houses, 162 people, and 55 canines were sampled. serum anti-trypanosoma cruzi antibodies were determined by means of elisa and maba techniques using recombinant antigens. triatomine collection were carried out by passive search by community and an active/systematic house, t. cruzi infection was determined by direct microcopy. results: 2,47% of the humans and 18.18% of the canines were positive to serum anti-t.cruzi antibodies. the triatomine bugs found was 98.24% and 1.76% eratyrus mucronatus. vector’s indexes were: 0 % vector infection, 18.75% indoor house infestation, 25% outdoor house infestation, 0% indoor house colonization, 83.33 % outdoor house colonization and 4.16% house co-infestation. we obtained an association between house triatomine infestation and visualization of wild animals in the house. discussion: there are not vector transmission of chagas disease in the community, however, high dog’s prevalence is related to their biological habits and behavior