The history of Chagas disease

Steverding, D. (2014) The history of Chagas disease. Parasites & Vectors, 7. ISSN 1756-3305

	Microsoft Word (Accepted Version) - Accepted Version Download (151kB)
Preview	PDF (Published_Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (650kB) | Preview

Abstract

The ancestor of Trypanosome cruzi was probably introduced to South American via bats approximately 7-10 million years ago. When the first humans arrived in the New World, a sylvatic cycle of Chagas disease was then already well established. Paleoparasitological data suggests that human American trypanosomiasis originated in the Andean area when people founded the first settlements in the coastal region of the Atacama Desert. Identification of T. cruzi as the etiological agent and triatome bugs as the transmission vector of Chagas disease occurred within a few years at the beginning of the 20 century. History also teaches us that human activity leading to environmental changes, in particular deforestation, is the main cause for the spread of Chagas disease. Recently, migration of T. cruzi-infected patients has led to a distribution of Chagas disease from Latin America to non-endemic countries in Europe, North America and western Pacific region.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Gastroenterology and Gut Biology
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	23 Sep 2014 14:18
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 20:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/50219
DOI:	10.1186/1756-3305-7-317

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item