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Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is
a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan
parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. About 6-7 million people worldwide
are estimated to be infected with T. cruzi. The disease is found
mainly in endemic areas of 21 continental Latin American
countries, where it has been mostly transmitted to humans and
other mammals by contact with feces or urine of triatomine bugs
(vector-borne), known as kissing bugs, among many other
popular names, depending on the geographical area.
Chagas disease is named after Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano
Chagas, a Brazilian physician and researcher who discovered the
disease in 1909. Chagas disease was once entirely confined to
continental rural areas of the Region of the Americas (excluding
the Caribbean islands). Due to increased population mobility
over previous decades, most infected people now live in urban
settings and the infection has been increasingly detected in the
United States of America, Canada, and many European and some
African, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific countries.
Chagas disease’s transmission is caused by T. cruzi
parasites, which are mainly transmitted by contact with
feces/urine of infected blood-sucking triatomine bugs. Normally
they hide during the day and become active at night when they
feed on animal blood, including human blood. They usually bite
an exposed area of skin such as the face (hence its common
name, kissing bug), and the bug defecates or urinates close to the
bite. The parasites enter the body when the person instinctively
smears the bug’s feces or urine into the bite, other skin breaks,
the eyes, or the mouth. T. cruzi can also be transmitted by
consumption of food or beverages contaminated with T. cruzi
through, for example, contact with feces or urine of infected
triatomine bugs or common opossums. This kind of transmission
typically causes outbreaks with more severe cases and mortality;
passage from an infected mother to her newborn during
pregnancy or childbirth; blood or blood product transfusion from
infected donors; some organ transplants using organs from
infected donors; and laboratory accidents.
Internet: <who.int> (adapted).