Chagas disease, a little-known illness caused by blood sucking insects, has been labeled the ”new AIDS of the Americas” by experts.
The parasitic illness has similarities to the early spread of HIV, according to a new study.
Similar to AIDS, Chagas disease is difficult to detect and it can take years for symptoms to emerge, according to experts writing in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
An estimated 10 million people worldwide are infected with most sufferers in Bolivia, Mexico, Columbia and Central America, as well as approximately 30,000 people in the U.S., reported the New York Times.
Once largely contained to Latin America the disease has spread to the U.S due to increases in travel and immigration.
Due to the severity of the illness, the amount of people infected and the ability of prevention, Chagas disease is considered one of the Neglected Parasitic Infections, a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted by CDC for public health action.
Chagas disease commonly affects people in poverty-stricken areas and most U.S. cases are found in immigrants.
If caught early enough, the disease can be cured with an intense 3-month drug treatment. However, because of the lengthy incubation period, Chagas disease is often left untreated.
Also known as the American trypanosomiasis, the disease spreads easily either through blood transfusions or, less commonly, from mother to child.
All blood banks in the U.S. and Latin America screen for traces of the disease.
Most blood banks in the U.S began screening for it in 2007.
Chagas disease is usually transmitted from the bite of blood-sucking insects that release a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi into the person’s bloodstream.
The disease comes in two phases – acute and severe.
The acute phase may have no symptoms but can present a fever, general feeling of being unwell and swelling in one eye.
After the acute phase the disease goes into remission and it can take years before symptoms, such as constipation, abdomen pain and digestive problems, emerge again in the severe stage.
The parasite can eventually make its way to the heart, where it can live and multiply.
About a quarter of the people who contract Chagas disease, develop enlarged heart or intestines that can burst causing sudden death.
Although the drugs available are not as expensive as those for AIDS, there are shortages of the medication in poorer countries and little money is being spent on discovering new treatments.
Chagas disease is named after Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, a Brazilian doctor who first discovered the disease in 1909.
Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine said last year that they believed Charles Darwin suffered from three different illnesses, including a Chagas infection.
The experts believe he contracted the disease during a five-year trip around the globe on the HMS Beagle in his 20s – and attributed it to his death of heart failure 47 years later.
The father of modern life scientists wrote in his journal that he had been bitten by a “wingless black bug” during the expedition, where he visited South America.
CHAGAS DISEASE
Named after the Brazilian doctor who discovered it in 1909, Chagas disease is a potentially deadly illness spread by blood-sucking insects including Triatomids most commonly known as “kissing bugs”.
Like AIDS, the illness is difficult to detect and has a long remission period.
It spreads easily through blood transfusions and from mother to child.
Approximately a quarter of victims who contract the disease develop enlarged heart or intestines that can burst causing sudden death.
An estimated 10 million people worldwide are infected, including 30,000 people in the U.S.
Chagas disease is considered one of the Neglected Parasitic Infections, a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted by CDC for public health action.
It is estimated that in 2008 Chagas disease killed more than 10,000 people.
