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Chagas disease - Overview

Alternative Names

American trypanosomiasis

Definition of Chagas disease:

Chagas disease is an illness spread by insects. It is common in South and Central America.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite related to the African trypanosome that causes sleeping sickness. It is spread by reduvid bugs and is one of the major health problems in South America. Due to immigration, the disease also affects people in the United States.

Risk factors for Chagas disease include:

  • Living in a hut where reduvid bugs live in the walls
  • Living in Central or South America
  • Poverty
  • Receiving a blood transfusion from a person who carries the parasite but does not have active Chagas disease
  • Reviewed last on: 9/15/2010
  • David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital.

References

Kirchhoff LV. Trypanosoma species (American trypanosomiasis, Chagas' disease): Biology of trypanosomes. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2009:chap 277.

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