Chagas Disease - Symptoms and Treatment

Chagas Disease - Symptoms and Treatment : Washington: A little-known disease caused by parasites transmitted to humans by blood-sucking insects has been labelled by experts as the "new AIDS of the Americas".

In a report, published in journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the authors claimed that the illness, called Chagas Disease, has similarities to the early spread of HIV.Like HIV, it is also difficult to detect and can take years for symptoms to emerge, the authors said.
Chagas is also known as American trypanosomiasis, because the bugs carry single-celled parasites called trypanosomes. Their best-known relative, spread by tsetse flies in Africa, causes sleeping sickness, they said.
Chagas is estimated to be infecting up to eight million people in the hemisphere, mostly in Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia and Central America. But more than 300,000 of the infected live in the US, many of them immigrants, The New York Times reported.
The disease, according to authors many of whom are from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, can be transmitted from mother to child or by blood transfusion. About a quarter of its victims eventually will develop enlarged hearts or intestines, which can fail or burst, causing sudden death, 
"Both diseases are highly stigmatising," the authors said and expressed fear that immigrants may not get medical treatment making Chagas more likely to spread.
"Both diseases are highly stigmatising," the authors said and expressed fear that immigrants may not get medical treatment making Chagas more likely to spread.



Treatment for the potentially life-threatening disease involves harsh drugs taken for up to three months and works only if the disease is caught early, they noted.


The drugs are not as expensive as AIDS drugs, but there are shortages in poor countries, and as it`s a disease of the poor, little money is spent on finding new treatments, they pointed out.

Chagas disease, a tropical insect-borne disease that mostly affects low-income people in the Caribbean and Latin America, is being called “the new HIV/AIDS of the Americas,” PLoS reports. The two diseases share many similarities: They both disproportionately affect people living in poverty; both are chronic conditions requiring long-term treatment; both require expensive treatment that prolongs life but does not cure; both diseases are stigmatizing; and individuals with either disease struggle to access essential medications or break through barriers to care. Researchers are asking that the global community prioritize Chagas disease and develop a comprehensive global plan to fight it. The plan would include blood screening, testing, maternal and child interventions, health education, and research and development.