Emiliana Rodriguez remembers being a small child and witnessing friends play soccer at night when one of the players unexpectedly passed away on the field.
Rodriguez, a Bolivian native, was informed that the “monster”—the silent killer known as Chagas—only emerges at night, thus she became afraid of the dark after learning what had happened.
An uncommon kind of infection called Chagas disease is carried by nocturnal insects. The “silent and silenced disease” is another name for it; it may infect up to 8 million individuals a year, killing 12,000 of them on average.
When Emiliana Rodriguez, 42, moved to Barcelona from Bolivia 27 years ago, she found out she had to live with Chagas, a “monster.”
“The terror usually hit at night. She said, “I didn’t always sleep well. “I feared that I wouldn’t awaken from my slumber.”
When Rodriguez was eight years old and expecting her first child, she had several tests, and the findings showed that she had the Chagas gene. “I was paralyzed with shock and remembered all those stories my relatives told me about people suddenly dying,” she said, recalling the death of her friend. “I questioned what would happen to my child.”
Nonetheless, Rodriguez was given medication to stop the parasite from vertically transferring to her fetus. She tested negative following the birth of her daughter. Before her 18-year-old son was diagnosed with Chagas, Elvira Idalia Hernández Cuevas, 18, was ignorant about the Mexican silent killer.
Idalia, an 18-year-old blood donor from her hometown in Veracruz, Mexico, received a positive diagnosis for Chagas after her sample was analyzed. Chagas is a disease caused by triatomine bugs, sometimes referred to as vampire or kissing bugs and bloodsucking parasites.
Hernandez said, “I started to research Chagas on the internet because I had never heard of it,” in an interview with the Guardian. I was terrified to learn that the killer was mute. I was clueless about where to go and what to do.
She is not alone in this; many individuals are unaware of the illnesses that these bothersome insects might transmit. Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, a Brazilian physician and researcher who discovered the first case in 1909, is credited with coining the word Chagas.
Reports of Chagas disease cases have been recorded in Europe, Japan, Australia, Latin America, and North America throughout the last few decades.
Kissing bugs are primarily found on the walls of low-income rural or suburban homes, and they are most active at night while people are sleeping. After biting a human or animal, the bug excretes on the victim’s skin. The person can accidentally tear the skin by scratching the region, or they might get the feces in their mouth or eyes. This is the method by which the T. cruzi infection spreads.
Chagas disease affects an estimated 6 to 7 million people globally, or around 8 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America, according to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of these people are unaware that they have the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have offered these estimations. If left untreated, the chronic infection may become lethal. Over 12,000 people die from Chagas disease each year, “more people in Latin America than any other parasite disease, including malaria,” according to the Guardian.
These bugs are not believed to be endemic, even though they have been discovered in the US and around 300,000 people are affected.
While other people never show any symptoms, 20 to 30 percent have cardiac or gastrointestinal issues that can cause severe discomfort decades later, according to the CDC.
Moreover, only 10% of cases are found worldwide, which makes prevention and treatment very difficult.
In an attempt to get help, Hernández and her daughter Idalia visited several physicians, but they were all ignorant of Chagas illness and how to treat it. I was shocked, afraid, and devastated because I thought my child was going to die. Hernandez said that the main reason he was more nervous was because he couldn’t find any reliable information.
With the help of a family member who worked in the medical area, Idalia was able to receive the necessary care.
Hernández states, “It is false that the Mexican government says the Chagas disease is under control and that not many people are affected.” Medical professionals’ lack of expertise in this area causes them to misdiagnose Chagas disease as other cardiac diseases. The majority of individuals are ignorant that Mexico is home to Chagas.
Chagas is not on the global health policy agenda since it is considered a neglected tropical illness by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) research manager Colin Forsyth claims that one reason chagas is not well-known is because it is a quiet illness that remains concealed in the body for a long time due to the asymptomatic nature of the initial infection.
Referring to the underprivileged neighborhoods, Forsyth continued, “The people affected just don’t have the power to influence healthcare policy.” A confluence of biological and social factors conceals it.
However, as it spreads to other continents and may be passed from mother to kid during pregnancy or delivery, as well as via organ and blood transfusions, chagas is starting to gain greater recognition.
Professor David Moore, a physician at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, established the Chagas Hub with the primary goal of getting “more people tested and treated, and to manage the risk of transmission, which in the UK is from mother to child.”
Moore said that progress toward the WHO’s 2030 target for the disease’s elimination is “glacial” and that “I can’t imagine that we’ll be remotely close by 2030.” That doesn’t seem likely.
Moore states that benznidazole and nifurtimox, two drugs that have been used to treat chagas for more than 50 years, are “toxic, unpleasant, not particularly effective.”
While the drugs are successful in treating infants, there is no assurance that they will stop the illness from progressing in adults.
In terms of serious side effects, Rodriguez recalls experiencing nausea, dizziness, and hives. She finished her therapy, and she has an annual check-up.
Moore continues by stating that, despite the fact that developing more potent anti-Chaga medications is essential to halting the disease’s spread, pharmaceutical companies are not now financially inclined to do so.
Hernández’s goal as president of FINDECHAGAS, the International Federation of Associations of People Affected by Chagas disease, is to increase public knowledge of the ailment until there is a bigger demand for novel medicines on the market.
Rodriguez is fighting the “monster” in Spain as part of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health’s initiative to raise public awareness of Chagas disease.
Rodriguez says, “I’m tired of hearing nothing at all.” “I desire that Chagas be spoken about and made public. I support personalized testing and treatment.
Also, they are being heard.
The WHO established World Chagas condition Day on April 14, 1909, the day Carlos found the first known human case of the condition.According to the WHO, “global targets for 2030 and milestones are set out to be used to prevent, control, eliminate, and eradicate a diversified set of 20 diseases and disease categories.” And Chagas is one of them.
The following actions are advised by the CDC to avert a potential infestation:
Seal any openings and crevices surrounding windows, doors, walls, and roofs.
Get rid of the brush, wood, and rock mounds around your house.
Install screens on doors and windows, and seal any holes or rips in them.
Seal off cracks and openings that lead to the outside, crawl spaces under the house, and the attic.
Pets should be kept indoors, especially at night.
Keep your house and any outside pet rest areas spotless, and be sure to regularly check them for insects.
The Centers for Disease Control advises against crushing any kissing bugs that you may have found. As an alternative, gently place the insect in a jar, add rubbing alcohol to it, and freeze it. Then, in order to identify the insect, it is advised that you take its container to a university lab or your local health authority.
Tell this story, please, to help raise awareness about a condition that remains undiagnosed!
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