Phases and forms of Chagas disease The acute phase lasts approximately 8 weeks, and usually causes mild or no symptoms. Patients with chronic Chagas disease have lifelong infection in absence of treatment. Spontaneous cure is extremely rare.
If untreated, infection is lifelong. Acute Chagas disease occurs immediately after infection, and can last up to a few weeks or months. During the acute phase, parasites may be found in the circulating blood. This phase of infection is usually mild or asymptomatic.
Signs and symptoms of the chronic phase of Chagas disease may occur 10 to 20 years after initial infection, or they may never occur. In severe cases, Chagas disease signs and symptoms may include: Irregular heartbeat. Heart failure.
There are three phases of the disease: acute, indeterminate and chronic. In acute infection, symptoms can occur immediately following infection and can last approximately 2 months. Chronic infections can last for years.
Acute phase: During this phase, which lasts for the first few weeks or months infection, a person may have no symptoms or mild ones, such as fever, fatigue, body aches, headache, rash, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting.
However, an estimated 20–30% of infected people will develop health problems years to decades later that are often fatal. The most common symptoms in this late symptomatic stage are cardiac and include conduction abnormalities (arrhythmias), heart failure and sudden death.
Treatment. To kill the parasite, Chagas disease can be treated with benznidazole or nifurtimox. Both medicines are fully effective in curing the disease if given soon after infection at the onset of the acute phase, including the cases of congenital transmission.
What is Chagas disease? Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is an illness that can cause serious heart and stomach problems. It is caused by a parasite. Chagas disease is common in Latin America, especially in poor, rural areas.
Chagas disease is endemic in 21 countries in the Americas, and affects approximately 6 million people. In the Americas, Chagas disease show an annual incidence of 30,000 new cases average, 14,000 deaths per year, and 8,000 newborns become infected during gestation.
In the chronic phase, it presents as neuritis that results in altered tendon reflexes and sensory impairment, and is reported in up to 10% of the patients. Isolated cases of central nervous system involvement can also include dementia, confusion, chronic encephalopathy and sensitive and motor deficits.
The ECG and Holter monitor may show tachycardia (out of proportion to fever), different degrees of atrioventricular (AV) block, QT prolongation, low voltage and repolarisation abnormalities in the acute phase of the disease.
The diagnosis of Chagas disease can be made by observation of the parasite in a blood smear by microscopic examination. A thick and thin blood smear are made and stained for visualization of parasites.
Treatment for Chagas disease is recommended for people diagnosed early in the course of infection (acute phase), babies with congenital infection, and for those with suppressed immune systems. Many patients with chronic infection may also benefit from treatment.
The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) during human acute and chronic Chagas disease (CD) has been largely reported. Meningoencephalitis is a frequent finding during the acute infection, while during chronic phase the CNS involvement is often accompanied by behavioral and cognitive impairments.
Kissing bugs can cause patches of bites, often around the mouth. The bites are usually painless, but they may swell and look like hives. Itching from the bites may last a week.
Chagas disease and sleeping sickness are both infectious diseases caused by the parasite Trypanosoma. In particular, Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, while sleeping disease is caused by Trypanosoma gambiense. These parasites live in animals and can be transmitted from person to person.
During the second stage, people have no symptoms of Chagas disease and results of electrocardiography (ECG) and imaging tests of the heart and digestive system are normal. However, protozoa are present in their body and sometimes blood. Many people remain in this stage, without any symptoms, for the rest of their life.
Chagas disease is a parasitic infection caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. It mostly affects people living in rural parts of Latin America. It is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 people in the U.S. with Chagas disease.
* Benznidazole is FDA-approved for the treatment of Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) caused by Trypanosoma cruzi in pediatric patients 2–12 years of age.
Anyone who suspects that they may have Chagas disease should ask their doctor to order this test. Patients who test positive for the infection should have a cardiac check-up. This is done using radiography, an electrocardiogram and occasionally an echocardiogram.
The costs of transfusion bagsand immunohematology tests are also reported. Results: The cost of Chagas' disease test in the blood bank of Seccional Bolívar was COP$ 37,804 (USD$ 12), and the blood bag and immunohematology test costs were COP$ 25,941 (USD$ 8.2) and COP$ 6,800 (USD$ 2.2), respectively.
The triatomine bug thrives in poor housing conditions (for example, mud walls, thatched roofs), and where the bug is present, people living in rural areas are at greatest risk for getting infected.
Confirmatory serologic testing for chronic Chagas disease and molecular testing (PCR) for acute Chagas disease are available at the CDC.
Chagas disease, resulting from the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important cause of heart failure, stroke, arrhythmia, and sudden death.