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Chagas Disease: Past, Present, and Future

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Chagas Disease

Part of the book series: Birkhäuser Advances in Infectious Diseases ((BAID))

Abstract

In this chapter we present an introduction to diverse aspects of Chagas disease. It is especially targeted to members of the health system in need for a deeper insight on the disease.

Chagas disease is a silent, silenced, and very complex disease. Silent because it may take 20 years since the parasite ingresses the organism until the subject develops a pathology. Silenced, because governments have managed to keep it without a common denominator. It is highly associated to poverty. It is included within the so-termed neglected tropical diseases by the WHO, given the little concern it represents to health officers from many countries and the pharmaceutical industries.

It is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which has a wild life cycle, with over 100 animal species involved, and a human cycle. Its vector is a triatomine hematophagous insect, varying according to the geographic area. The parasite is transmitted through the vector feces. It is the most important endemic disease in the Americas, but due to Latin American population migratory movements, it has reached different countries in several continents. It affects approximately eight million people.

About 30% of the infected subjects develop cardiac disease with severe consequences and mortality. It also produces digestive disease, with a smaller load of morbidity.

We produced this chapter as a review of the history of the disease, and we describe a panoramic view of the infection ways, points relevant to diagnosis, treatment, phases of the disease, criteria of cure, and new research.

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  1. Servicio de Parasitología y Enfermedad de Chagas, Hospital de Niños “Ricardo Gutiérrez”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Héctor Freilij

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  1. Héctor Freilij
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  1. Servicio de Parasitología y Enfermedad de Chagas, Hospital de Niños “Ricardo Gutiérrez”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Jaime Marcelo Altcheh

  2. Servicio de Parasitología y Enfermedad de Chagas, Hospital de Niños “Ricardo Gutiérrez”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Hector Freilij

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Freilij, H. (2019). Chagas Disease: Past, Present, and Future. In: Altcheh, J., Freilij, H. (eds) Chagas Disease. Birkhäuser Advances in Infectious Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00054-7_1

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