Chagas's disease
Disease common in Central and South America, infecting approximately 18 million people worldwide. It is caused by a trypanosome parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by several species of blood-sucking insect; it results in incurable damage to the heart, intestines, and brain. It is named after Brazilian doctor Carlos Chagas (1879–1934).
It is the world's third most prevalent parasitic disease, after malaria and schistosomiasis. In its first stage symptoms resemble flu but 20–30% of sufferers develop inflammation of the heart muscles up to 20 years later.
| Venezuelan researchers testing the drug D0870, which is being developed as an antifungal agent, found in 1996 that it cured both acute and chronic Chagas's disease in mice. |
