2023-08-25 13:52:59
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Chagas disease can develop silently for decades before symptoms appear.
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
The parasite is transmitted by an insect called the triatomine bug (the vector of the disease), and this bug is known as the kissing bug, since it often bites near the lips.
It mainly affects people in Latin America, where Trypanosoma cruzi is transmitted primarily through contact with the feces/urine of infected blood-sucking triatomine bugs. These bugs usually live in cracks in the walls or ceilings of homes and adjacent structures, such as chicken coops, barns, and warehouses, in rural or suburban areas.
These insects defecate on the skin, and their feces may contain the parasite that can enter the human body through the eyes, nose, mouth, wounds in the skin, or through the wound resulting from the insect bite.
The disease is not transmitted from one person to another, except through the mother who transmits it to her newborn, or through undergoing a blood transfusion or organ transplant from a person infected with the parasite.
However, its prevalence is increasing in the United States, where it often goes unrecognized. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 300,000 people have Chagas disease in the country, but a lack of awareness and screening means that only 1% of cases are identified.
Doctors and researchers say the United States can do more to combat Chagas disease, which causes serious heart disease in an estimated 30 percent of sufferers and can also lead to digestive problems such as an enlarged esophagus and colon.
Doctors and researchers in the United States are seeking to increase access to testing and treatment, and are optimistic regarding a new drug scheduled for human trials next year.
Rachel Marcus, MD, a cardiologist and medical director of the Latin American Society for Chagas Disease, notes that many people at high risk of Chagas use community health centers that can be testing sites, but they have limited resources and tend to focus on more common conditions like high blood pressure. blood pressure and diabetes.
Chagas disease initially produces flu-like symptoms, but can go unnoticed for decades as it multiplies in the body.
Drug treatments can sometimes kill the parasite, especially in its early stages, but the chance of early detection is low: it does not remain in the bloodstream for long, and instead migrates to tissues and organs where it is difficult to detect.
Often, by the time a patient visits a doctor, that person has already developed serious complications, including arrhythmias or dilated cardiomyopathy that impairs the heart’s ability to pump blood well. Patients may eventually need pacemakers or heart transplants.
It is estimated that between 6 and 7 million people worldwide are infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
In the United States, two older drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, “Benznidazole” and “Nifortimox”, can overcome the parasite but do not always eliminate it, and may have serious side effects, and the earlier it is received the more effective it is.
For example, babies born with Chagas disease have a 90% cure rate if they are treated within the first year of life.
To combat the disease, doctors familiar with Chagas disease recommend testing and early treatment of pregnant women from high-risk communities, and endorse screening of all transplanted organs.
And in 2018, a Connecticut man died following a heart transplant infected with the parasite that causes Chagas disease, leading to a lawsuit and calls for mandatory testing of transplanted organs. The organization that governs transplant policies in the United States has finally voted in favor of requiring such a test.
With few facilities in the country to detect Chagas disease, doctors and researchers say that with increased awareness, more healthcare providers can run initial tests and, if positive, send the results to the Centers for Disease Control for confirmation.
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