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Chagas disease can be prevented by avoiding insect bites through insecticide spraying, home improvement, bed nets, hygienic food, medical care, laboratory practices, and testing. [38] It can be diagnosed through a serological test, although the test is not very accurate. [18] Treatment is with medication, which may have severe side effects. [38]
In areas with triatomine bugs, transmission of T. cruzi can be prevented by sleeping under bed nets and by housing improvements that prevent triatomine bugs from colonizing houses. [16] Blood transfusion was formerly the second-most common mode of transmission for Chagas disease. [35]
Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and is mostly spread by Triatominae. It is endemic to 21 countries in Latin America. There are over 30,000 new cases per year and 12,000 deaths due to the disease. [143] Eradication efforts focus on the elimination of vector-borne transmission and the elimination of the vectors themselves. [143]
One can tell one may be infected by the observation of cysts or trophozoites in stools and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test. To prevent contamination, avoid any possibly contaminated water, and if contaminated water is the only thing available to drink, a slow sand filter should be used.
The most used method for epidemiological management and disease prevention resides within vector control, [26] mainly by the use of insecticides and taking preventative measures such as applying bug repellent on the skin, wearing protective clothing, and staying in higher quality hotels when traveling. Investing in quality housing would be ...
Domestic and sylvatic species can carry the Chagas parasite to humans and wild mammals; birds are immune to the parasite. T. cruzi transmission is carried mainly from human to human by domestic kissing bugs; from the vertebrate to the bug by blood, and from the bug to the vertebrate by the insect's feces, and not by its saliva as occurs in most ...
Removing or reducing areas where vectors can easily breed can help limit their growth. For example, stagnant water removal, destruction of old tires and cans which serve as mosquito breeding environments, and good management of used water can reduce areas of excessive vector incidence.
Therefore, the doctor allows a triatominae, a vector of the flagellate, to take a blood meal from the patient. The doctor later inspects the gut of the triatominae for growth of Trypanosoma cruzi . Medical professionals historically successfully identified babesiosis with xenodiagnosis, both in hamsters for Babesia microti and in gerbils for ...