Overview

• Catamarca remains one of nine Argentine jurisdictions without certification of vector elimination, with officials confirming active vinchuca presence and ongoing human cases.
• Health brigades in Catamarca are conducting house-to-house fumigations, analyzing insects brought to the provincial lab, and advising serological testing when bugs test positive for Trypanosoma cruzi.
• Authorities report urban findings, including a vinchuca detected on a fourth floor in the provincial capital, signaling that exposure risk extends beyond rural settings.
• Santa Fe is prioritizing prevention of vertical transmission with routine pregnancy screening and PCR testing of newborns to enable early diagnosis and treatment.
• Clinicians note that medication given in the first months of life can clear the parasite in nearly all infected infants, while Rosario researchers report a copper-ion uptake target in T. cruzi that could guide future therapies.