Chagas Disease Symptoms, Causes, Treatment - What is Chagas disease? on MedicineNet

Chagas Disease (cont.)

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Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Indiana University.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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What is Chagas disease?

Chagas disease (also termed American trypanosomiasis) is an infection caused by a protozoan parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi) that can result in acute inflammatory skin changes (chagomas) and eventually may cause infection and inflammation of many other body tissues, especially those of the heart and intestinal tract. The disease may have three phases in an individual: acute, with mild or no symptoms that may last weeks to about two months; intermediate or indeterminate phase that has few if any symptoms and may last 10-20 years or longer; and chronic phase that appears after about 20 years, with the more severe symptoms appearing from gradual chronic organ damage (especially to the heart and intestine, although other organs may be affected) with symptoms that usually remain for life. People with Chagas disease seen in the U.S. usually have acquired it while living in a country where the disease is endemic (Mexico, Central and South America). The CDC estimates about 8-11 million people are infected in countries where the disease is endemic.

Picture of kissing bug, a vector for Chagas disease; SOURCE: CDC/donated by the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) is distinguished from African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness or African sleeping sickness) by the part of the world where they occur, their vectors, and their different symptoms and different treatments (see Table 1).

Table 1 - Comparison of American (Chagas disease) and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
	American trypanosomiasis	African trypanosomiasis
Cause	T. cruzi	T. brucei (subspecies)
Main vector	Triatominae bugs (also termed kissing bugs)	Tsetse fly
Main symptoms	Chagomas, heart, gastrointestinal	Chancres, nighttime insomnia, seizures
Treatment	Benznidazole, nifurtimox; symptomatic treatments in chronic phase	Suramin, melarsoprol, pentamidine, eflornithine