Chagas disease: changes in knowledge and management

Advances and challenges towards a vaccine against Chagas disease

“…Drug treatments of infected patients are based on Nifurtimox and Benznidazol since the 1960s, and while their efficacy is fairly well established during the acute phase of infection and in children, their usefulness in chronic phase and adult patients is still debated and a large clinical trial is currently underway to clarify this point. 2,3 Both drugs require prolonged treatments and can have severe adverse effects. 4,5 Patients also require palliative care for the cardiomyopathy, ranging from drug therapy to pacemakers and cardiac transplants.…”

Acute experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection: establishing a murine model that utilises non-invasive measurements of disease parameters

“…The incidence of Chagas disease has dropped from 700,000-40,000 new cases per year and the annual number of deaths has fallen from more than 45,000-12,500 (Moncayo & Silveira 2009). However, the epidemiology of the disease has become more complex due to the presence of multiple vectors and reservoirs and the added effects of geopolitical, economic and ecological upheaval (Coura 2006, Beltrão et al 2009, Lescure et al 2010.…”

The role of humoral autoimmunity in gastrointestinal neuromuscular diseases

“…Not all infected individuals, progress to the chronic, symptomatic stage of the disease. About two-thirds of patients remain in an asymptomatic 'indeterminate' phase and no determinants of progression to the symptomatic phase have been identified (Lescure et al 2010) As discussed in Finding 4, five of the eight patients in which we detected anti-VGKC autoantibodies were asymptomatic. It would be of interest to follow these patients to see if they go on to develop symptomatic disease, as perhaps in some individuals anti-VGKC autoantibodies represent a marker of disease progression, either as a pathological factor, or as a marker of more severe tissue damage which reveals these antigens to the immune system.…”

“…It would be of interest to follow these patients to see if they go on to develop symptomatic disease, as perhaps in some individuals anti-VGKC autoantibodies represent a marker of disease progression, either as a pathological factor, or as a marker of more severe tissue damage which reveals these antigens to the immune system. In either case, the finding would be of significance in guiding a treatment regime which currently lacks definition (Lescure et al 2010).…”