When Emiliana Rodriguez, a native of Bolivia, was still tiny, she recalls watching friends play a nocturnal soccer match when one of the players suddenly died on the pitch. Unaware of what had happened, Rodriguez acquired a terror of the dark and the “monster” known as Chagas, which she had been informed only appeared at night.
Chagas disease, a unique type of illness spread by nocturnal insects, is also known as the “silent and silenced disease” that affects up to 8 million people annually, with an average of 12,000 persons affected. Emiliana Rodriguez learned that she had to live with Chagas, a “monster,” after moving to Barcelona from Bolivia 27 years ago. “Typically, fear strikes at night. “I didn’t always sleep well,” she acknowledged. “I was worried that I wouldn’t wake up from my sleep.”
Rodriguez had particular testing when she was eight years old and expecting her first child, and the findings revealed that she had the Chagas gene. She observed, “I was paralyzed with sho/ck and remembered all those stories my relatives told me about people suddenly dyíng.” “I wondered, ‘What will happen to my baby?'” However, Rodriguez was given medication to keep the parasite from vertically transferring to her unborn child.
After giving birth to her daughter, she tested negative. Elvira Idalia Hernández Cuevas, 18, was not aware of the Mexican disease until her 18-year-old son was diagnosed with Chagas. Idalia, an eighteen-year-old blood donor from her birthplace in Veracruz, Mexico, tested positive for Chagas, a disease caused by triatomine bugs, sometimes known as vampire or kissing bugs and bloodsucking parasites.
“I started researching Chagas on the internet because I had never heard of it,” Hernandez explained in an interview with the Guardian. When I read that it was a sɪʟᴇɴᴛ ᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ, I got quite terrified. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. She is not alone in this; many individuals are unaware of the diseases that these disagreeable insects might transmit. The term Chagas comes from Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, a Brazilian physician and researcher who discovered the human case in 1909.
Over the last few decades, the occurrence of Chagas disease has been reported in Europe, Japan, Australia, Latin America, and North America. Kissing bugs are most commonly found on rural or suburban low-income home walls, where they are most active at night when humans are sleeping. After biting an animal or person, the bug excretes on the victim’s skin. The person may mistakenly scrape the region, severing the skin, or transfer the excrement into their mouth or eyes.
This is how the T. cruzi infection is spread. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Chagas disease affects 6 to 7 million people globally, including around 8 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America; the majority of these people are unaware of their illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offered these estimates. If not treated, the persistent infection could be lethal.
According to the Guardian, Chagas disease kills over 12,000 people each year, “more people in Latin America than any other parasite disease, including malaria.” Although these bugs have been detected in the United States, infecting approximately 300,000 people, they are not thought to be endemic. Some people have no symptoms, but the CDC reports that 20 to 30 percent have gastrointestinal or cardiac problems, which can cause terrible agony decades later.
In addition, only 10% of cases are recognized internationally, making prevention and treatment extremely difficult. Hernández and her daughter Idalia visited a number of doctors in quest of aid, but all were unaware of Chagas disease and its treatment. “I was shocked, worried, and depressed because I thought my child was going to pass away. Above all, Hernandez added, “I was more anxious because I was unable to locate any trustworthy information.”
Idalia eventually received the care she needed after being assisted by a family member who worked in the medical sector. “The Mexican government claims that the Chagas disease is under control and that not many people are affected, but that is untrue,” Hernández says. Medical professionals misdiagnose Chagas disease as other heart problems due to a lack of information in this field. The majority of people are ignorant that there is Chagas in Mexico.
Chagas is listed by WHO as a neglected tropical illness, which means it is not on the global health policy agenda. Colin Forsyth, a research manager at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), explains that Chagas disease is often missed due to its silent character and asymptomatic nature during the early stages of infection. Forsyth continued, “The people affected just don’t have the power to influence healthcare policy,” referring to underprivileged neighborhoods.
It is maintained hidden by a combination of societal and biological factors. Chagas, on the other hand, is gaining recognition as it spreads to other continents. It can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy or childbirth, as well as through organ and blood transfusions.The Chagas Hub, a UK-based facility developed by Professor David Moore, a clinician at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, aims to get “more people tested and treated, as well as to manage the risk of transmission, which in the UK is from mother to child,” according to Moore.
Moore remarked that progress toward the WHO’s 2030 goal of eradicating the disease has been “glacial” and that “I can’t imagine that we’ll be remotely close by 2030.” That appears implausible. Two drugs that have been available for more than 50 years to treat chagas are benznidazole and nifurtimox, which Moore describes as “toxic, unpleasant, and not particularly effective.”
Although the treatments are helpful in healing babies, there is no certainty that they will prevent or slow the progression of the illness in adults. Rodriguez recalls experiencing dizziness and nausea, as well as breaking out in hives. She finished her therapy and is checked out annually. Moore goes on to add that while developing better anti-Chaga medications is critical to halting the disease’s spread, pharmaceutical companies are not now financially motivated to do so.
Hernández, head of the International Federation of Associations of People Affected by Chagas Disease (FINDECHAGAS), is on a mission to promote awareness of the ailment until there is a stronger market need for innovative treatments. In Spain, Rodriguez is combating the “monster” as part of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health’s effort to raise public awareness of Chagas disease.
“I’m tired of hearing nothing at all,” Rodriguez declares. “I want Chagas to be discussed and publicized. I support individual testing and therapy. They are also being heard. World Chagas Disease Day was established by the WHO on April 14, 1909, the day Carlos found the disease’s first human case.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “a diversified set of 20 diseases and disease categories are set out to be prevented, controlled, eliminated, and eradicated through global targets for 2030 and milestones.” And one of them is Chagas.
To avoid an infestation, the CDC recommends the following steps: Repair any holes and fractures around doors, windows, walls, and roofs. Clear up the rock, wood, and brush piles near your property. Install screens on windows and doors, and repair any tears or holes in them. Close any openings or fissures that lead to the outside, crawl spaces beneath the house, or the attic.
Keep pets indoors, particularly in the evening. Keep your home and any outdoor pet resting spots clean, and check for bugs on a regular basis. If you see a kissing insect, the CDC recommends not crushing it. Alternatively, gently place the bug in a jar, fill with rubbing alcohol, and freeze it. It is then recommended that you bring the bug’s container to an academic lab or your local health authority for identification.