A high percentage of people from Latin America are infected with the parasite that causes Chagas disease. This is the conclusion of an analysis of nearly 3,000 people from countries where the disease is endemic and who attended ...
Jul 13, 2023
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Little-known Chagas disease is a silent killer in Latin America, where it takes 10,000 lives a year, and more must be done to detect the condition early on, the Pan American Health Organization said Thursday.
Apr 13, 2023
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The World Health Organization on Monday called for greater investment in combating neglected tropical diseases, which left more than 1.6 billion people, often in least-developed countries, requiring treatment in 2021.
Jan 30, 2023
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Tulane University researchers are working on a new Chagas disease vaccine that prevents lasting heart damage, a long-term complication from the tropical disease.
Dec 12, 2022
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Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, affects some 8 million people worldwide. More than a third develop severe heart or digestive problems with a heightened risk of death. The process that leads ...
Dec 5, 2022
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Up to 8.4 billion people could be at risk of dengue and malaria at the end of the century if emissions keep rising at current levels. But even in a best-case scenario in which we reduce emissions billions could still be affected.
Nov 11, 2022
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Researchers from the University of Georgia have discovered a potential treatment for Chagas disease, marking the first medication with promise to successfully and safely target the parasitic infection in more than 50 years.
Sep 8, 2022
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University of Oklahoma and Baylor College of Medicine researchers are investigating a potential treatment for a disease that affects as many as 8 million people in the United States and Latin America.
Sep 5, 2022
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One thing you might want even less than a "kiss" from a kissing bug is its feces. Scientifically referred to as triatomine bugs, these blood-sucking insects can carry in their feces and pass on to humans the parasite Trypanosoma ...
Aug 16, 2022
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When Brazilian immunologist Helder Nakaya visited Evandro Chagas Institute in Belém (the capital of Pará state, Brazil) in 2017, there was a commotion because one of its best microscopists was retiring and much of the knowledge ...
Jul 28, 2022
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Chagas disease ( /ˈʃɑːɡəs/, Portuguese: [ˈʃaɣɐʃ]; Portuguese: doença de Chagas, Spanish: enfermedad de Chagas-Mazza, mal de Chagas in both languages; also called American trypanosomiasis) is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae (family Reduviidae) most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius, and Panstrongylus genera. The disease may also be spread through blood transfusion and organ transplantation, ingestion of food contaminated with parasites, and from a mother to her fetus.
The symptoms of Chagas disease vary over the course of an infection. In the early, acute stage, symptoms are mild and usually produce no more than local swelling at the site of infection. The initial acute phase is responsive to antiparasitic treatments, with 60–90% cure rates. After 4–8 weeks, individuals with active infections enter the chronic phase of Chagas disease that is asymptomatic for 60–80% of chronically infected individuals through their lifetime. The antiparasitic treatments also appear to delay or prevent the development of disease symptoms during the chronic phase of the disease, but 20–40% of chronically infected individuals will still eventually develop life-threatening heart and digestive system disorders. The currently available antiparasitic treatments for Chagas disease are benznidazole and nifurtimox, which can cause temporary side effects in many patients including skin disorders, brain toxicity, and digestive system irritation.
Chagas disease is contracted primarily in the Americas, particularly in poor, rural areas of Mexico, Central America, and South America; very rarely, the disease has originated in the Southern United States. The insects that spread the disease are known by various local names, including vinchuca in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay, barbeiro (the barber) in Brazil, pito in Colombia, chinche in Central America, chipo in Venezuela, chupança, chinchorro, and "the kissing bug". It is estimated that as many as 8 to 11 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have Chagas disease, most of whom do not know they are infected. Large-scale population movements from rural to urban areas of Latin America and to other regions of the world have increased the geographic distribution of Chagas disease, and cases have been noted in many countries, particularly in Europe. Control strategies have mostly focused on eliminating the triatomine insect vector and preventing transmission from other sources.
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