Integrating citizen notifications and geospatial tools to monitor urban Triatoma infestans occurrence from San Juan, Argentina.

In Argentina, urban transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease, has emerged in recent decades, particularly in western cities where urbanization and environmental heterogeneity promote the occurrence of Triatoma infestans. This study analyzes the macro-scale spatiotemporal distribution of community-based notifications of T. infestans in the metropolitan area of San Juan, Argentina, and their association with environmental and sociodemographic variables. We integrated georeferenced notifications recorded by the provincial vector control program, utilizing a strictly curated spatial dataset from 2019-2020 for spatial clustering and an expanded temporal dataset from 2017-2020 for meteorological modeling, with remote sensing indicators, climate analysis data, and census-derived sociodemographic information. Spatial cluster analysis identified seven statistically significant clusters, including four high-relative-risk clusters concentrated in the urban core and three low-relative-risk clusters located in peripheral areas. High-risk clusters were characterized by significantly lower land surface temperature and higher vegetation indices compared with low-risk clusters, suggesting the presence of buffered urban microclimates. Meteorological analyses indicated that skin temperature was the main temporal predictor of notification frequency, whereas wind speed showed no significant association at the analyzed scale. Unexpectedly, high-risk clusters were associated with more favorable socioeconomic conditions, including higher housing quality and educational climate, challenging the traditional rural poverty-based paradigm of Chagas disease risk. These findings highlight the relevance of integrating community participation with geospatial and remote sensing tools to characterize urban vector dynamics and support targeted surveillance and control strategies adapted to heterogeneous urban environments.