Department of Molecular Biology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Mexico City 14080, Mexico.
Acta Trop. 2013 Aug;127(2):126-35. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2013.04.007. Epub 2013 Apr 30.
Chagas disease is a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, a flagellated organism that is transmitted mainly to humans through the infected feces of triatomine kissing bugs (vector transmission in endemic areas) or by transfusion of infected blood, donations of infected organ, or transmission from an infected mother to her child at birth. Chagas disease was first described in 1909 by the Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas, and due to the parasite's distribution throughout North, Central and South America, the disease is commonly known as American trypanosomiasis. However, this disease is now present in non-endemic countries such as Canada, the United States of America, and several countries in Europe (principally Spain). Moreover, Chagas disease was recently designated by the World Health Organization as one of the main neglected tropical diseases. The aim of this review is to summarize the research efforts recently described in studies conducted in Mexico on Chagas disease. In this country, there are no existing vector control programs. In addition, there is no consensus on the diagnostic methods for acute and chronic Chagas disease in maternity wards and blood banks, and trypanocidal therapy is not administered to chronic patients. The actual prevalence of the disease is unknown because no official reporting of cases is performed. Therefore, the number of people infected by different routes of transmission (vector, congenital, blood transfusion, organ transplantation, or oral) is unknown. We believe that by promoting education about Chagas disease in schools starting at the basic elementary level and including reinforcement at higher education levels will ensure that the Mexican population would be aware of this health problem and that the control measures adopted will have more acceptance and success. We hope that this review sensitizes the relevant authorities and that the appropriate measures to reduce the risk of infection by T. cruzi are undertaken to provide the Mexican people a better quality of life.
恰加斯病是一种寄生虫感染，由原生动物克氏锥虫引起，主要通过受感染的三锥虫接吻虫的粪便（在流行地区的媒介传播）或输入受感染的血液、受感染的器官捐赠，或受感染的母亲在出生时传染给孩子而传播给人类。恰加斯病于 1909 年由巴西医生卡洛斯·查加斯首次描述，由于寄生虫分布在北美、中美洲和南美洲，因此该疾病通常被称为美洲锥虫病。然而，这种疾病现在也存在于非流行国家，如加拿大、美利坚合众国和欧洲的几个国家（主要是西班牙）。此外，恰加斯病最近被世界卫生组织指定为主要被忽视的热带病之一。本综述的目的是总结在墨西哥进行的关于恰加斯病的研究中最近描述的研究工作。在这个国家，没有现有的媒介控制计划。此外，在妇产科病房和血库中，对急性和慢性恰加斯病的诊断方法没有共识，也没有对慢性患者进行杀锥虫治疗。由于没有进行正式的病例报告，因此不知道该疾病的实际流行率。因此，不知道通过不同传播途径（媒介、先天性、输血、器官移植或口服）感染的人数。我们认为，通过在学校从基础小学阶段开始宣传恰加斯病，并在高等教育阶段加强宣传，将确保墨西哥人口了解这一健康问题，并且所采取的控制措施将得到更多的认可和成功。我们希望本综述能引起有关当局的重视，并采取适当措施降低感染克氏锥虫的风险，为墨西哥人民提供更好的生活质量。
