What exactly is chagas?

I just realized that for some of you who may be reading my blogs you may have never heard of chagas or if you have, you may not know that much about it. In addition, since I’m working with chagas patients and my blogs in the next several weeks will most likely have something written about chagas, I figured that it would probably be a good idea to give a brief overview of what I have learned about chagas since I’ve been here in Tarija. So here it is….

What’s the cause of chagas? Chagas is an infectious disease discovered in 1909 by Carlos Chagas. Chagas is also referred to as South American trypanosomiasis. It is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Members of the Trypanosoma family can be found in different parts of the world. For example, in Africa, there is Trypanosoma bruci, which leads to African sleeping sickness.

What body parts are affected by the parasite?The parasite usually causes irreversible damages to the heart and the intestines. In the cardiovascular rotation that I did a few weeks back here in Tarija, I encountered several patients that had chagas. In each of the patients that had chagas, they also had very enlarged hearts and as a result were suffering from heart failure. Also, one common sign that a person may be infected with chagas is Romana’s sign. In Romana’s sign, one eye of a person is closed due to swelling in the upper eyelid because of infection.

Transmission
Here in South America, one way chagas is transmitted is via an insect known as the vinchuca. What happens is that after the vinchuca feeds on a person`s blood , the vinchuca deposits feces (which contain the parasite) on the top layer of the skin. Then, when a person goes to scratch their skin that is when the parasite is introduced into the person. Furthermore, transmission can also happen from mother-to-child and through blood transfusions.
Here in Bolivia, the areas that have the highest prevalence rates are Chuquisaca, Tarija, Cochabamba, and parts of Potosi, La Paz, and Santa Cruz. Out of these, Chuquisaca has the highest.


Diagnostic
The only way to confirm that a person has chagas is through doing a blood analysis. Here in Bolivia, ELISA is one of the most common methods used.

Treatment and Prevention
The most common form of treatment is with a drug known as Benzindazol. An infected person takes this drug for 60 days. There is also another drug known as Nifurtimox that a person can take. In order for treatment to be successful, early detection and diagnosis is needed.

The best way to prevent chagas is through vectoral control. In addition, education and control in blood banks are also important.