Reporte sobre la enfermedad de Chagas
Grupo de trabajo científico 17–20 de abril de 2005 - Actualizado en julio de 2007 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Summary
Chagas disease continues to represent a health threat for an estimated in 28 million people, living mostly in Latin America.
The control strategy for elimination of Chagas disease is based on the control of vectors; systematic screening of blood donors in all endemic countries; detection and treatment of congenital transmission; and treatment of infected children and acute cases.
Since the early 1990s, a series of Chagas disease control and elimination campaigns have been undertaken in various regions of the Americas by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO Regional Office for the Americas/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in cooperation with regional and national control authorities, with reference to the different transmission patterns, epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations that are characteristic of Chagas in the different regions.
These interventions have contributed to interruption of disease transmission in sizeable areas. Brazil, Chile and Uruguay have been declared free of Chagas disease transmission due to Triatoma infestans, the main domiciliated vector in these countries. According to information from 21 countries where the disease is endemic, the number of infected persons today is estimated as 7,694,500 (1,448%); this represents a reduction of 50% from infection rates in 1990. The number of yearly new cases due to vectorial transmission is 41,200 (7.775 per 100,000).The number of new cases of congenital Chagas disease per year is 14,385.