Schofield C J, Dias J C
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Adv Parasitol. 1999;42:1-27. doi: 10.1016/s0065-308x(08)60147-5.
Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis) is now ranked as the most serious parasitic disease of the Americas, with an economic impact far outranking the combined effects of other parasitic diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis. Although the chronic infection remains virtually incurable, transmission can be halted by eliminating the domestic insect vectors and screening blood donors to avoid transfusional transmission. In line with this strategy, governments of the six Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) launched in 1991 an ambitious initiative to control Chagas disease through elimination of the main vector, Triatoma infestans, and large-scale screening of blood donors. Now at its mid-point, the programme has achieved remarkable success, with transmission halted over vast areas of the previously endemic regions. Well over 2 million rural houses have been sprayed to eliminate T. infestans, and the programme has already shown significant economic rates of return in addition to the medical and social benefits.
恰加斯病（又称美洲锥虫病）目前被列为美洲最严重的寄生虫病，其经济影响远远超过疟疾、血吸虫病和利什曼病等其他寄生虫病的综合影响。尽管慢性感染几乎无法治愈，但通过消灭家庭昆虫传播媒介和筛查献血者以避免输血传播，可以阻止疾病传播。按照这一战略，南锥体六国（阿根廷、玻利维亚、巴西、智利、巴拉圭和乌拉圭）政府于1991年发起了一项雄心勃勃的倡议，通过消灭主要传播媒介——骚扰锥蝽，并对献血者进行大规模筛查来控制恰加斯病。该计划目前已进行到中期，取得了显著成功，在以前的流行地区大片区域已停止传播。超过200万农村房屋已喷洒药物以消灭骚扰锥蝽，该计划除了带来医疗和社会效益外，还已显示出显著的经济回报率。
