The Kiss of Death: Chaga's Disease in the Americas

The Kiss of Death: Chaga's Disease in the Americas

Chagas’ disease has become one of the major public-health problems in Latin America. Current estimates are that sixteen to eighteen million people are infected. Caused by a flagellate protozoa carried to humans via the bite of the triatomine or vinchuca bug, it is locally referred to as the “kissing bug” because of its tendency to lodge on victims’ faces during sleep. The protozoa enters neuron tissues in the heart and other organs and causes death by irreversible cardiac and gastrointestinal lesions in thirty to forty percent of all cases, usually lying “dormant” until the debilitating chronic phase during the human host’s mid-life. Because of the long dormant phase, it has generally gone unrecognized, with chronic symptoms often attributed to other causes. Originally preying on forest animals, the vinchuca bug has infested the impoverished housing of displaced Andean migrants as forest lands and animals have been destroyed in South America. Although there is no cure for the chr...
Author: Bastien Joseph William
ISBN: 9780874805598
Year of publication: 1998
Genre: Medicine, Culturology
Number of pages: 372
Reading time: 6 h. 12 min.
Formats: FB2, EPUB, PDF
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