Chagas Disease: The Parasite Spread by Kissing Bugs

Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis, is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, and can lead to serious heart and stomach problems. It is common in Latin America, especially in poor, rural areas. It is also found in the United States, most often in people who were infected before they moved here.

How it spreads

The parasite is usually carried by infected blood-sucking insects called triatomine bugs. They are known as "kissing bugs" because they often bite people on the face. A bug that bites leaves infected waste behind, and a person becomes infected by rubbing that waste into the bite wound, a cut, or the eyes or nose.

The disease can also spread through:

• contaminated food;
• a blood transfusion;
• a donated organ;
• a pregnant parent passing it to the baby during pregnancy.

Who is at risk

Kissing bugs live throughout the Americas but are more common in some areas. People most at risk are those who:

• live in rural areas of Latin America;
• have seen the bugs, especially in those areas;
• have stayed in a house with a thatched roof, or with cracks or crevices in the walls.

Symptoms

At first there may be no symptoms at all. Some people have mild ones:

• fever, tiredness and body aches;
• headache and loss of appetite;
• diarrhea and vomiting;
• a rash;
• a swollen eyelid.

These early symptoms usually fade. But untreated, the infection stays in the body, and later it can cause serious heart and intestinal problems:

• a serious arrhythmia — a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat — that can cause sudden death;
• an enlarged heart that does not pump blood well;
• problems with digestion and bowel movements;
• a higher chance of stroke.

Diagnosis

A health care provider will examine you, take a medical history — including your symptoms and where you have lived and travelled — and run a blood test for Chagas disease. Other tests may check whether the disease has affected the heart and intestines.

Treatment

Medicines can kill the parasite, especially early in the infection. Related problems can be treated too; a pacemaker, for example, can help with some heart complications.

Prevention

There is no vaccine and no medicine that prevents Chagas disease. Travellers to areas where it occurs are at higher risk if they sleep outdoors or stay in poor housing. Using insecticides to prevent bites, and practising food safety, both help.

Sources

• MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, "Chagas Disease," drawing on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://medlineplus.gov/chagasdisease.html
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
• The source's "An serious arrhythmia" is corrected.