Diana Frias
LACS 271
Professor Almendros
March 23,2014

The chagas disease

The spread of the chagas disease is most common in places of greater poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The chagas disease is a parasitic disease named after the Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas who discovered it in 1909. It is spread to animals and people through a bite of an infected insect named triatomine bugs or “kissing bugs” that carry the parasite known as Trypanosoma cruzi (Boston College). The triatomine insect feeds on the blood a mammal infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, ingesting the parasite. The insect then becomes infected and now moves on to bite a human transferring the parasite. As the insect bites, it releases its feces near the site of the bite wound allowing the parasite to enter the victim. The parasite then invades the first cells it comes in contact with. They use the victim cells to multiply then releasing itself into the victim bloodstream where they will then continue to multiple and spread into different areas in the body. There are many other ways in which the disease can be spread. For example, infections occur from mother to baby, through contaminated blood transfusions, organ transplant from an infected donor and rarely though contaminated food or drinks (FAQs).
Symptoms do not show immediately after being bitten by the triatomine bug. It takes from five days to two weeks for slight symptoms to show. Some symptoms are mild fever with body ache and swelling at the site of the bite, fatigue, rash, headache, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, enlargement of spleen and swollen glands. However, some people never develop these symptoms until five to ten years after the bite. These cases lead to a more severe stage of the chagas disease labeled to be chronic.
Chronic chagas disease can cause life-threatening complications in the body. For example, it can cause serious damage to the heart such as irregular heart rhythms that can lead to sudden death, a dilated heart now unable to pump blood well, or a dilated esophagus or colon that can lead to difficulties eating or passing stool. Other complications caused by the chagas disease are damages to the stomach and central nervous system of the victim (FAQs).
To diagnose this disease, a blood smear must be examined. The blood smear is stained to be able to visualize the parasite under a microscope. Detection of the parasite in a blood smear can only happen when the infection is in a more advanced stage. The parasite sometimes lingers around the person body in a small amount making it hard, if not impossible to get detected. In most cases, it is not until the person is chronically ill that the chagas disease is taken in consideration.
The chagas disease insects are usually found in tropical regions including Mexico, Central America and southern American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. A total number of about 8 million people in these areas are infected with the disease, most of which do not even know it (FAQs). This is about twice the amount of people living with HIV/AIDS.
It is important to understand the many factors that contribute to the large spread of the chagas disease in Latin America and the Caribbean. Compared to other countries, a 2006 study shows an estimated number of 96,631 – 700,712 people infected by the chagas disease in countries like Australia, Canada, Spain and the United States (DNDi). This is a small amount compared to the 8 million infected in Latin America and Caribbean’s. Many of these people are believed to have caught the disease through the transfer of organs as well as migration of infected people from Latin America and the Caribbean’s. Now that the disease has spread to first world countries and has become a rising issue to them as well, what exactly is being done to stop the spread and help those already infected?
I will use qualitative information. I will gather passed information on the spread of chagas in Latin America. I will compare the places where the chagas disease is most abundant in to those places where the chagas disease is not as abundant. I will analyze the several suggested ways to prevent the spread of chagas disease in Latin America that might or might not work. I will also gather information on what is now being done to solve the issue of the chagas disease spread in poor rural areas.
The chagas disease is part of the many more neglected tropical disease. Neglected diseases are the diseases, which receive very little or no funding money to advance in treatments and cures. These infectious diseases affect the most vulnerable population meaning the most poor, and the ones with the least access to health services. This is a problem when in 2008 it was estimated that 40% of the 556 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean lived under poverty (Factsheet). This means that a total of about 40% of the entire Caribbean and Latin American population are most likely infected by tropical neglected disease. It is said that an estimate of 10 million of the people infected by neglected tropical disease are chagas victims. In the year of 2008, the chagas disease killed about 10,000 people.
Due to the neglecting of tropical diseases, chagas, one of many other diseases, does not have a vaccine to help prevent the disease. However, treatment does exist that can cure the disease soon after the infection. Chagas can be treated with benznidazole and nifurtimox.
With most of the people infected with the chagas disease being low-income people, these treatments are not something that is at their reach. Other places simply do not have access to medical facilities where they can get a hold of these treatments. Not having access to medical facilities does not only prevent people access to treatments, in many cases if not most, people become chronically ill because of the chagas disease. One of the reasons is because there was no way of knowing they had it in the first place. The lack of medical facilities and equipments does not allow doctors to run the tests necessary to detect the disease.
There are ways that to prevent and control the spread of the chagas disease. Houses and surrounding areas can be sprayed with insecticides; houses can be improved to prevent infestation, bednets can be used to prevent the insects from getting close to bite, good hygiene practice in food, transportation, storage and consumption, screening blood donors and screening newborns and other children of infected mothers to provide early diagnose and treatment.
Although the different techniques to help prevent and control the spread of the chagas disease sound like simple measures to those in a first world country, they are not at many of these countries reach. For instance, with 40% of the population living in poverty, most of them if not all, live in squatter settlements. These self-built houses are built using available inexpensive resources such as wood, mud, adobe or thatch. These are keys to a perfect environment for triatomine insects to settle in. Unintentionally these people are building homes where they are almost guaranteed to get bitten and catch the chagas disease. Another issue relating to poverty is the ability to maintain good hygiene with food. One of the factors preventing this is the water resource. Fresh water has become scarce throughout the years. People living in areas of high poverty, do not have access to clean filtered water like other more advanced places. Water is used to cook pretty much everything. Contamination of these parasites in the water will also contaminate the food being ingested by the people. Spraying houses and its surroundings is not much of an option in areas of high poverty. In 2008, in Colombia alone, it is estimated that the annual cost of medical care for people with the chagas disease is $267 million dollars. Spraying insecticide only costs about $5 million a year (T, Adler).
With no vaccine against the chagas disease, the disease is spreading across sea. It is estimated that a total of 300,000 individuals are infected in the United States, 5.500 in Canada, 80,000 in Europe, 3,000 in Japan, and 1,500 in Australia (Rodriguez). Many of these cases are said to be from travelers, either for tourism or work related. Some of the cases can also point to adopted children from Latin America and the Caribbean. The chagas disease is no longer much of a disease that only affects poor areas. It has become a worldwide issue.
Now that the disease has caught everyone’s attention, action has to be taken to look into the disease. Private investors have become interested enough to give grants for the study of the chagas disease hoping to find a solution. There are certain steps needed to make these new drugs accessible to the most neglected patients. This includes the very poor who would not be able to afford the drugs at its regular cost.
The first step is to identify and report the number of chagas infected cases existing. To assure a continuous supply of the drug, an agreement from the manufacturer is needed. They would need to agree to continue manufacturing the drug over a long period of time as well as to sell it an affordable price. In order for this to happen, the manufacturers must have accessibility to the pharmaceutical ingredients at a very low cost. Finally, a reliable supplier is needed to distribute the drug to rural area where it is mostly needed (DNDi).
In conclusion, the chagas disease does indeed spread more in poor areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, due to migration and organ and blood transplants, that has changed. It is unclear exactly how many chagas disease infected people are over seas, but it is clear to us that the disease is spreading elsewhere. Once action is taken, the primary aim to stop the spread is to help places such as Latin America and the Caribbean where the disease is more abundant by providing better living conditions and access to health facilities in the poor areas. Providing better living conditions will disrupts the environment needed for these insects to survive in around humans. Access to health facilities will allow the people to cure the disease right after being infected.

Work Cited

* T, Adler. "BinghamtonUniversityLibraries." MetaLib®. Science News, 2 Nov. 1995. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * "Boston College." Chagas Disease. Boston College, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * Mandal, Ananya. "What Is Chagas Disease?" What Is Chagas Disease? News Medical, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * "Detailed FAQs." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 July 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * "Factsheet on Neglected Infectious Diseases." Factsheet on Neglected Infectious Diseases. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * DNDi. "Frequently Asked Questions." DNDi. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. * Rodriguez, Coura Jose. "BinghamtonUniversityLibraries." MetaLib®. Nature, 24 June 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.