Emiliana Rodriguez remembers spending sleepless nights watching friends play soccer. During the course of the game, one of the players passed away.
Rodrguez, a native of Bolivia, didn’t know what had happened, so she began to fear the night because she had been told that the “monster” known as Chagas only appeared at night.
One of the 12,000 people who die each year from Chagas, a particular type of monster known as a “silent and silenced disease” spread by nocturnal insects and affecting up to 8 million people each year, was Rodrguez’s acquaintance.
Although she moved from Bolivia to Barcelona 27 years ago, Emiliana Rodrguez, 42, still has Chagas disease, which she refers to as a “monster.”.
Most often at night, the terror struck. I didn’t always sleep, she admitted. “I was concerned I might nod off and not wake up. ”.
Rodriguez found out she was a Chagas disease carrier eight years ago when she was expecting her first child.
She continued, “I was paralyzed with shock and remembered all the stories my ancestors told me about people suddenly dying. I was also reminded of the death of my friend. What’s going to happen to my baby? was my first thought.
Rodriguez, however, took medication to stop the parasite from spreading through the placenta and infecting her unborn child. Her infant daughter’s test result came back negative.
Elvira Idalia Hernández Cuevas, a mother of an 18-year-old in Mexico, had never heard of Chagas before her daughter was diagnosed with the silent killer.
While giving blood in her neighborhood near Veracruz, Mexican teen Idalia contracted Chagas disease. Triatomine bugs, which also go by the names kissing or vampire bugs and feed on human blood, are the carriers of the chagas disease.
Hernández stated, “I had never heard of Chagas, so I started to research it on the internet,” in an interview with the Guardian. “I was horrified to learn that the murderer had gone unnoticed. I didn’t know what to do or where to go.
She is not alone in this; many people are not aware that these pesky insects might transmit disease.
Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, a physician and researcher from Brazil, discovered the first case of Chagas disease in a human being in 1909.
Geographically, the Chagas disease has spread to the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania in recent years.
When people are asleep at night, kissing bugs emerge from hiding in rural or suburban low-income homes.
The likelihood that the victim will scratch the area increases when an infected bug bites a person or animal and urinates on the skin, raising the possibility that the feces will enter the body through skin cuts or open sores.
The WHO estimates that 6 to 7 million people worldwide have Chagas disease, the majority of whom are not aware of their condition.
These individuals are based in South America, Central America, and Mexico.
The fatal infection might remain untreated for a lifetime. According to the Guardian, Chagas kills more people in Latin America each year—more than any other parasitic disease, including malaria.
Although nearly 300,000 Americans have been infected with these bugs, the problem is not widespread.
The CDC states that even among people who never exhibit any symptoms, 20 to 30 percent may experience heart problems or gastrointestinal issues that may prove fatal decades after the initial infection.
Treatment and prevention are more difficult due to a 10% global diagnosis rate.
Hernández and her daughter Idalia sought help from numerous doctors, but none of them had any knowledge of Chagas disease or how to treat it.
“I was horrified, heartbroken, and shocked because I thought my child would die. I was particularly concerned because I couldn’t find any reliable information, Hernández said.
Idalia received the assistance she required when she got in touch with a relative who works in the medical field.
According to Hernández, “the authorities in Mexico say there aren’t many Chagas patients and that the disease is under control, but that’s not the case.”. “Medical staff members lack training and conflate Chagas with other cardiac conditions. Chagas is a disease that most people in Mexico are not aware of.
In terms of global health policy, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies Chagas disease as a neglected tropical disease.
therapy for Chagas disease.
Colin Forsyth, a research manager at the Drugs for Ignored Diseases Initiative (DNDi), claims that one of the reasons why Chagas is undertreated is that “it’s a silent disease that stays hidden for so long in your body… because of the asymptomatic nature of the initial part of the infection.”.
The impacted simply lack the ability to affect healthcare policy, Forsyth continued. ” to his previous remark. Due to a fusion of biological and social issues, it is kept a secret.
It has recently been discovered that Chagas disease can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy or childbirth, as well as through blood transfusions and organ transplants, as the condition spreads to other continents.
Professor David Moore, a doctor at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, founded the Chagas Hub with the intention of “increasing the number of people tested and treated, and to manage the risk of transmission, which in the UK is from mother to child.”.
Moore reacted negatively to the WHO’s target of eradicating the disease by 2030, saying, “I can’t imagine that we’ll be anywhere close by 2030. Chagas eradication is making “glacial” progress. It’s highly unlikely that.
Moore claims that the Chagas disease treatments that are 50 years old or older are “toxic, unpleasant, and not very effective. Two of these medications are benznidazole and nifurtimox.
In adults, the same drugs may be able to slow or stop the condition, but this is not always the case in newborns.
An allergic rash, dizziness, and nausea were Rodriguez’s worst side effects. She only needs yearly checkups now that her therapy is over.
Moore argues that more effective treatments are required to halt the spread of Chagas disease, but pharmaceutical companies do not currently see a financial benefit in developing such drugs.
As president of the International Federation of Associations of People Affected by the Chagas Sickness (FINDECHAGAS), Hernández wants to spread knowledge about the condition so that more treatments can be created.
How should I proceed if I believe I have found a triatomine bug?
Rodriguez is currently in Spain working with the Barcelona Institute for Global Health to raise awareness of Chagas disease in order to stop this “monster.”.
I’m starting to feel the silence, admits Rodriguez. “I want people to talk about and understand Chagas. I want everyone to get checked out and treated.
Additionally, they have an audience.
In honor of Carlos’ discovery of the first case of the disease in a human being on April 14, 1909, the World Health Organization declared that day to be World Chagas Disease Day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there are “global targets for 2030 and milestones set to prevent, control, eradicate and eradicate a diverse set of 20 diseases and disease groups.”. Chagas is included as well.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise taking the following actions to avoid an infestation:.
Fill in any gaps that exist between the walls, doors, floor, and other surfaces.
The area around your property should be cleared of all debris.
Use damaged window and door screens following repairs.
You should block off any entrances to the outside, the basement, the attic, and the rest of the house.
Allow pets to snooze indoors, particularly at night.
Maintain cleanliness and regularly scan your home and any outdoor areas where your pet spends time for pests.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against eradicating kissing bugs if you come across them.
Better alternatives include submerging the bug in water or carefully placing it in a container with rubbing alcohol.
The insect should then be transported to a university lab or a health organization for identification while it is still in its container.
It’s unsettling to think that these insects reside inside our walls; it makes you think of stories you heard as a child about “monsters in the walls.”. ”.
We wish the WHO luck in fulfilling its promise to end Chagas and other neglected tropical diseases.
To help raise awareness of this illness, kindly SHARE this story!
