Figure 6

Estimation of the number of potential infective contacts for Chagas patients in Chaco (Argentina). Predicted prevalence to T. cruzi in humans computed from our mathematical model of infection (eq. 5) using a T. cruzi prevalence value in triatomines of a _Tc  = 0.301,from a specific population of Chaco, Argentina [18]. Two values of the transmission rate parameter T _Tc  = 0.000202 [4] and T _Tc  = 0.00058 [3] were used. From eq. 7 we calculated, for a given prevalence of T. cruzi in humans of 27.81% (from the same population of Chaco, Argentina [18]), the number of potentially infective bites that the human population would be exposed to, resulting in 1,866 and 5,359 bites (magenta and blue curves, respectively).