Chagas disease: What you need to know about the illness from 'kissing bugs'

The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Chagas Disease Day on April 14 to raise awareness about this often-ignored illness. They said it causes a lot of suffering and called for more people to know about it and for more money and support to help detect it early and provide proper care. The WHO made a special webpage about it, saying that Chagas disease mostly affects poor people in Latin America but is starting to be found in other places too.

What is Chagas disease?

Chagas Disease is an infection caused by a tiny parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi. It's named after a doctor from Brazil, Carlos Chagas, who found it in 1909.

People get Chagas Disease from the bite of infected bugs called triatomine bugs, also known as "kissing bugs," because they often bite around the mouth. These bugs usually come out at night and feed on blood. Some experts think the disease can also spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants, or contaminated food and drinks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls it a "silent and silenced disease" because most people who have it don't have any symptoms, or they have very mild ones.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 6 to 7 million people worldwide have Chagas disease. Every year, about 10,000 people die from it.

Johns Hopkins University has listed the main symptoms of Chagas Disease, but they caution that it can be difficult to tell apart from other illnesses.

Some of the symptoms are:

• Mild flu-like symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, body aches and headaches
• Rash
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Swelling or a sore near the eye or on the side of the face where the bite or infection occurred
• Enlarged glands

The illness advances in two stages: Acute and chronic. During the initial stage, symptoms are either mild or absent altogether, making diagnosis challenging.

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The chronic phase may appear many years or even decades after the initial infection. During this stage, the parasite enters the patient's heart muscle, as described by Johns Hopkins. This can result in irregular heartbeats and difficulties with eating or bowel movements.

(With inputs from agencies)