Chagas Disease: From Discovery to a Worldwide Health Problem

Abstract

Carlos Chagas discovered American trypanosomiasis, also named Chagas disease (CD) in his honor, just over a century ago. He described the clinical aspects of the disease, characterized by its etiological agent ( Trypanosoma cruzi ) and identified its insect vector. Initially, CD occurred only in Latin America and was considered a silent and poorly visible disease. More recently, CD became a neglected worldwide disease with a high morbimortality rate and substantial social impact, emerging as a significant public health threat. In this context, it is crucial to better understand better the epidemiological scenarios of CD and its transmission dynamics, involving people infected and at risk of infection, diversity of the parasite, vector species, and T. cruzi reservoirs. Although efforts have been made by endemic and non-endemic countries to control, treat, and interrupt disease transmission, the cure or complete eradication of CD are still topics of great concern and require global attention. Considering the current scenario of CD, also affecting non-endemic places such as Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan, in this review we aim to describe the spread of CD cases worldwide since its discovery until it has become a global public health concern.

Upstream ORFs Influence Translation Efficiency in the Parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

“…Except for one early report about uORFs composition in four specific genes (Jaeger and Brandao, 2011), a systematic analysis of uORFs in Trypanosoma cruzi is missing. This parasitic protozoan, is the causative agent of the neglected Chagas' disease a neglected infection affecting millions of people in Latin America (Lidani et al, 2019). It has a complex life cycle involving replicative and non-replicative developmental forms both in vertebrate (amastigote and bloodstream trypomastigotes, respectively) and invertebrate hosts (epimastigotes and metacyclic trypomastigotes, respectively) (Tyler and Engman, 2001).…”

Thiol efflux mediated by an ABCC-like transporter participates forTrypanosoma cruziadaptation to environmental and chemotherapeutic stresses

“…Trypanosoma cruzi is a flagellated protozoan responsible by causing anthropozoonosis Chagas disease (1). According to the World Health Organization, Chagas disease is classified as a neglected tropical disease with an estimative of 6-7 million infected people in the world and almost 65 million at risk of infection.…”

A lineage-specific rapid diagnostic test (Chagas Sero K-SeT) identifies Brazilian Trypanosoma cruzi II/V/VI reservoir hosts among diverse mammalian orders

“…Recent publications have reviewed the complexities relating to Chagas disease and T. cruzi molecular epidemiology [3,25]. Regarding the latter point, the application of serology based on lineage-specific antigens has great potential for resolving the cryptic ecological cycles and the discovery of novel reservoir hosts of this parasite.…”