Question

answer this about Chagas Disease

Population(s) affected: What population(s) is/are at highest risk of contracting the disease? Are there any groups of people who should be tested? Please include statistical/geographical data and trends (from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, or other source [http://www.cdc.gov, http://www.who.int, etc.]).

Answer 1

Chagas disease is named after Carlos Justiniano Chagas, a Brazilian doctor, who discovered the disease in 1909. Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Infection is most commonly spread through contact with the poop of an infected triatomine bug (or “kissing bug”), a blood-sucking insect that feeds on humans and animals. The triatomine bug thrives in poor housing conditions (for example, mud walls, thatched roofs), and in countries where the bug is present, people living in rural areas are at greatest risk for getting infected. The people who are poor and live in an unhygienic conditions should be tested for Chagas disease.

Some facts regarding Chagas disease are:

• Chagas disease is common in parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America where an estimated 8 million people are infected.
• CDC estimatesExternal that more than 300,000 persons with Trypanosoma cruzi infection live in the United States. Most people with Chagas disease in the United States were infected in the parts of Latin America where Chagas disease is found. Although there are triatomine bugs in the United States, only a few cases of Chagas disease from contact with the bugs have been documented in this country.
• It is estimated that over 10 000 people die every year from clinical manifestations of Chagas disease, and more than 25 million people risk acquiring the disease.