Chagas Disease News and Research

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Chagas (pronounced SHA-gus) disease is named after the Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas, who discovered it in 1909. It is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insect vectors that are found only in the Americas (mainly, in rural areas of Latin America where poverty is widespread). Chagas disease (T. cruzi infection) is also referred to as American trypanosomiasis.

People can become infected in various ways. In Chagas-endemic areas, the main way is through vectorborne transmission. The insect vectors are called triatomine bugs. These blood-sucking bugs get infected by biting an infected animal or person. Once infected, the bugs pass T. cruzi parasites in their feces. The bugs are found in houses made from materials such as mud, adobe, straw, and palm thatch. During the day, the bugs hide in crevices in the walls and roofs. During the night, when the inhabitants are sleeping, the bugs emerge. Because they tend to feed on people’s faces, triatomine bugs are also known as “kissing bugs.” After they bite and ingest blood, they defecate on the person. The person can become infected if T. cruzi parasites in the bug feces enter the body through mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. The unsuspecting, sleeping person may accidentally scratch or rub the feces into the bite wound, eyes, or mouth.

World Health Organization, Sanofi sign new agreement to eliminate neglected tropical diseases

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Sanofi – one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies – have signed a new agreement for donations of medicines to sustain specific efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

15 Dec 2020

Study shows how parasite that causes Chagas disease resists current therapies

New insight on how a parasite can resist current therapies has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

2 Dec 2020

New, effective CRISPR-based gene drive approach to control transmission of malaria parasites

Employing a strategy known as "population modification," which involves using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system to introduce genes preventing parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, University of California researchers have made a major advance in the use of genetic technologies to control the transmission of malaria parasites.

3 Nov 2020

More intensive, less frequent drug regimen could cure Chagas disease

Researchers in the University of Georgia's Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases have found that a more intensive, less frequent drug regimen with currently available therapeutics could cure the infection that causes Chagas disease, a potentially life-threatening illness affecting up to 300,000 people in the United States.

29 Oct 2020

New position statement clarifies WHO's stance on the use of genetically modified mosquitoes

Each year, more than 700 000 people die from vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, dengue, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, among others.

14 Oct 2020

Bayer supports WHO through donated medicines for treatment of T. solium infection

A recent agreement between the World Health Organization and the German pharmaceutical company Bayer promises hope of expanding access to essential medicines for the treatment of people exposed to or infected by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium.

12 Aug 2020

New chemical could potentially lead to a cure for neglected tropical diseases

Scientists say they are a step closer to developing a drug to kill the trypanosome parasite that causes human African trypanosomiasis, otherwise known as sleeping sickness, paving the way for a potential cure.

13 Jul 2020

JGU professor wins Exploration Grant for research into membrane proteins of parasites

So-called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) cause great suffering in some of the world's poorest countries and can lead also to significant economic losses due to, for example, the infestation of animal herds.

4 Jun 2020

An extended SAR analysis of lipophilic guanylhydrazone analogues as promising trypanocidal agents

Sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, caused by the tropical parasites Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi, constitute a significant socioeconomic burden in low-income countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, respectively.

2 May 2020

Novartis and DNDi to partner on development of new oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis

Novartis and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, a not-for-profit research and development organization, have signed a collaboration and license agreement to jointly develop LXE408, as a potential new oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis, one of the world's leading parasitic killers.

25 Feb 2020

Clemson researchers discover protein function in parasites which afflict millions with diseases

In the quest to develop more effective treatments for parasitic diseases like African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis, scientists look for weaknesses in the organisms' molecular machinery. These weaknesses can then be targeted with drug therapies designed to kill the parasites.

24 Feb 2020

New compendium on cardiomyopathies

Cardiomyopathy refers to diseases of the heart muscle causing cardiac myocyte injury and myocardial dysfunction, which impair structural and functional ventricular filling or ejection of blood in the absence of other structural or vascular heart diseases.

18 Feb 2020

International consortium to receive BRL 43.5 million for discovering drugs to treat neglected diseases

In the search for new drugs to treat neglected diseases and malaria, researchers at the University of Campinas and University of Sao Paulo will assemble a team of scientists in a global collaboration network co-funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and the Medicines for Malaria Venture.

26 Nov 2019

'African eye worm' hampers efforts to eliminate river blindness, study shows

Efforts to eliminate river blindness, a debilitating disease affecting millions in Africa, will be hampered by another parasitic infection known as Loiasis, or 'African eye worm,' according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

20 Nov 2019

Detailed imaging of trypanosome paves way for new opportunities to combat sleeping sickness

The parasite trypanosome does not swim through a blood vessel as has always been assumed, it can simply be carried along with the flow.

25 Sep 2019

Alzheimer’s drug an interesting candidate for the treatment of parasitic Chagas disease

Researchers have discovered that an Alzheimer's drug could serve as a starting point in treating Chagas disease.

20 Sep 2019

Discovery of protein that may be key to treating tropical diseases

Neglected tropical diseases form a group of infectious parasitic diseases that affect a large percentage of the world population, mostly in emerging nations. Sleeping sickness affects millions in sub-Saharan Africa and is caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly.

27 Aug 2019

Preventing parasites from adhering to mosquito guts could stop disease transmission

A group of microorganisms known as kinetoplastids includes the parasites that cause devastating diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis.

31 Jul 2019

People successfully treated for visceral leishmaniasis can still infect others, study confirms

The results of an innovative "infectivity" study conducted by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh confirm that people successfully treated for visceral leishmaniasis in South Asia can still infect others if they develop a skin condition known as post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis.

22 Jul 2019

Machine learning identifies bugs that spread Chagas disease

New research from the University of Kansas shows machine learning is capable of identifying insects that spread the incurable disease called Chagas with high precision, based on ordinary digital photos.

20 Jun 2019