World Chagas Disease Day is marked on April 14 to extend awareness concerning the potentially life-threatening infectious disease that affects around seven million people worldwide.

Chagas disease, also referred to as American trypanosomiasis, is attributable to the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The parasite normally spreads through triatomine bugs, or “kissing bugs,” after they swallow blood from an infected animal.

The disease was earlier confined to continental rural areas of the Region of the Americas but it surely is now seen within the U.S., Canada and most of the European, African, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific countries.

If didn’t discover early, the disease may cause serious problems in the guts and digestive systems and may turn fatal. It’s estimated that around 10,000 people die every yr worldwide from the disease.

Transmission:

• Through food or beverages contaminated with T. cruzi
• From infected mother to newborn while pregnant and childbirth
• Blood transfusion or an organ transplant from an infected person
• Accidental exposures while working in labs
• From infected wild animals, comparable to raccoons and opossums

Early signs of the silent disease

Chagas disease can also be referred to as a silent or silenced disease as its symptoms are absent or mild within the initial acute phase of the infection that lasts for about two months.

Within the acute stage, patients may suffer mild symptoms comparable to:

• Fever and fatigue
• Rash
• Body pain and headaches
• Eyelid swelling, swollen glands
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea, diarrhea or vomiting
• Enlargement of liver or spleen

Most of those symptoms normally go away on their very own. But when left untreated, the infection advances to the chronic stage.

Symptoms within the chronic stage include cardiac complications comparable to irregular heartbeat, heart failure and cardiac arrest. Patients also develop gastrointestinal complications comparable to difficulty in swallowing, stomach pain or constipation resulting from an enlarged esophagus or colon.

Treatment

The disease is normally treated with benznidazole or nifurtimox, and each medicines are effective in curing the condition if administered soon after the onset of the acute phase. Nonetheless, the treatment becomes less effective when the medications are given long after the beginning of symptoms. Adversarial reactions to the treatment are frequent in older people. These medicines are nonetheless not advisable for pregnant women or individuals with kidney or liver failure.

Tips on how to prevent

There are currently no vaccines for Chagas disease.

Eradicating the infection isn’t feasible as T. cruzi parasites are widely seen in wild animals. Prevention efforts give attention to the elimination of transmission to humans and early detection of infection.

• In Latin America, disease prevention goals at vector control. Spraying insecticides in areas across the houses helps to regulate bugs that carry the parasite.
• Effective screening before blood transfusion and organ transplant helps in stopping transmission.
• Screening of newborns and other children of infected moms helps within the early detection of the disease.
• Incorporating good hygiene practices within the preparation, transportation, storage and consumption prevents transmission through contaminated food.
• Antiparasitic treatment for youngsters and girls of childbearing age helps in prevention.

Triatoma brasiliensis (Triatominae), kissing bug, vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etological agent of Chagas disease.
Zezinho68/Wikimedia Commons