What Is Chagas Disease?

Fever, swelling around initial infection site, parasites in blood, sometimes asymptomatic, rarely debilitating or life threatening problems can occur.

In the film, Foul Water, Fiery Serpent, former president, Jimmy Carter shows his process of eradicating Guinea Worm disease. With the help of Director Gary Strieker, Carter educates viewers on how the disease forms, how it has spread throughout countries, and how it will soon be defeated. When Guinea worm first surfaced, there were 3.5 million cases in 20 countries worldwide. With the help of Jimmy Carter, his campaign members, and many more, they have managed to drop these cases down to 3,190 by the year 2009. With some statistical facts at the end of the documentary, Guinea worm is likely to be the next disease in the history of mankind to be eradicated from the earth, right after smallpox. It was also the first parasitic disease to be eradicated, and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of vaccines or medicines. With this campaign, reported cases went from 4,136 in 2007, to 242 cases by 2009 in Ghana alone. None of this would have been possible if it were not for the awareness in global health, and the mission to make the world a healthier, safer place to live.

Louis Blue, a struggling alcoholic who ignores all the warning signs that his alcoholic disease has become more aggressive thus causing more financial, family and everyday survival issues. This continuous chaotic life style makes me feel very uncomfortable. It also leads me to lose some respect for my uncle. I love him dearly, but I know that this disease destroys families. I decided early on to love my uncle at a distance in an effort to avoid the disappointment, selfishness and manipulation. There is a daily struggle where I am angry about my uncle’s bad choices and then there are times when I pity for him because he acknowledges that there is no cure for this terrible addiction, only treatment. The person must want treatment in order to

Chagas disease, also known as American Trypanosomiasis, is a tropical disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted to humans through contact with the feces of an infected triatomine bug. The triatomine bug known as the kissing bug is a subspecies of the Reduviidae family. The bug itself does not cause the disease. Through contact with the fecal matter from the kissing bug, which is excreted near the bite wound, the parasite enters the bloodstream and begins to develop and reproduce.

Our plan is to run blood tests on individuals who exhibit symptoms of FSGS to confirm if they express the APOL1 gene. The individuals whose blood we use, since we have to take both likelihood of affliction and ancestry into consideration, will be from people who are of West African descent. In order to confirm if the individual expresses the APOL1 gene, we will first take the individual’s blood sample, large enough to have a detectable amount of HDL cholesterol (potentially formed into an APOL1-HDL complex). We will then acquire a sample of the parasite. The parasite will be acquired by gathering the various species of Tsetse flies which serve as vectors for trypanosomes in West Africa. We can then cultivate a live axenic sample of

What is Cystic Fibrosis? Cystic Fibrosis is a disease inherited past down from many generations. Another name for cystic fibrosis is called clubbing there are many other name terminologies for cystic fibrosis. The name of the disease originates from the tough tissue, which scars inside the pancreas, first documented in the 1930’s. The pancreas is one the major organ attacked by a faulty chromosome no.7 where cystic fibrosis has been found. A cystic fibrosis patient can have the recessive gene and both of his or her parents can carry the gene but not affected by the gene. The disease attacks the external glands, which includes (lungs, perspiration glands, gastrointestinal system, and a man’s masculinity). Cystic fibrosis can cause several different

Every 20 minutes somewhere in the world a child is born with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. (tscinternational.org)What is Tuberous Sclerosis Complex? “Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder that causes non-malignant tumors to form in many different organs, primarily in the brain, eyes, heart, kidney, skin and lungs.” (tsalliance.org). Tuberous Sclerosis is the leading genetic cause of Autism and epilepsy; at least two children born each day will have tuberous sclerosis complex. (tsalliance.org) This disorder affects 1 million people world-wide and approximately 50,000 of those people live in the United States. Raising awareness and educating the general public on the effects that plague tuberous sclerosis patients is critical for

What defines who we are: is it where we come from, who our parents are, how much money we have, what we look like, or is it what we do with our lives? The truth is, the answer to this question is very complex, and there is no one true answer, but when looking from the eyes of America one of the major contributing factors to this is race. In the world that we live, being black has become known as something negative, and being white is become what the world looks at as the beauty, intelligence, and the beginning of humanity. This thought is known as white supremacy. There are many contributing factors to this statement such as, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and the newest of them all, colorism. All the events of the past play a role in how our society interacts and how blacks interact with each other. Over time the development of the term Colorism has developed unknowingly in the psyche of the colored people of the world, but in order to understand why people feel this way about their self you have to know all the components that go into it.

Chagas disease is an illness caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. This parasite infects triatomine bugs, which are common in Mexico, Central America, and South America. These bugs spread the disease to humans through contact with their feces. This may be through bites from the bugs, or the parasite can enter the body through mucous membranes or small cuts in the skin.

Hello Nathan, I enjoyed your post. Chagas is a major disease and I must say it will be interesting to see how the house projects research goes. It is apparent that this aid the Latin America countries in need while including their socio-economical status. Use resources indigoes to the population of countries at hand. It is apparent that close living quarters within humans to humans such as over crowding, and close living of humans to animals aids not just Chagas disease but many. Chagas disease is a disease that can be stopped but is an extremely challenging challenge.

Biological transmission occurs when the pathogen reproduces within a biological vector that transmits the pathogen from one host to another . Arthropods are the main vectors responsible for biological transmission. For example, hemipterans (called “kissing bugs” or “assassin bugs”) transmit Chagas disease to humans by defecating when they bite, after which the hu-man scratches or rubs the infected feces into a mucous membrane or break in the

Trypanosomiasis also known as T.b. Is mostly found in Sub-Sahara Africa. A bug called Tsetse flies around and spreads the disease. The disease that T.b. Causes is called sleeping sickness. What happens when you get thins is you get bit by the tsetse and the T.b. spreads throughout your body. The treatment for this disease is called Pentamidine, this drug is recommended for first stage T.b. Other drugs for this disease are called aura in, melarsoprol, eflonithine, and

Dracunculiasis is an infection by the guinea worm, which is a type of parasite, that benefits or feeds off another organism to survive. People may become infected when they drink water that contains water fleas infected with guinea worm larvae, at fist there are no symptoms one can look for but about one year later, the person will develop a painful, burning feeling as the female worm forms a blister in the skin, usually on the lower limb. Then the person infected will get a fever; have nausea, voting, diarrhea, itchy rash and dizziness. Then the worm comes out of the skin over which causes the person to have difficulty to walk, work or do any type of active activity. Most of time the worms come out of the legs and feet, but they can as well can come out from anywhere on the body.

Originating from Latin America, American Trypanosomiasis, or better known as Chagas Disease, is a “systematic chronic parasitic infection by Trypanosoma cruzi” (Ramos, et al. 919). It was discovered in 1909 by a Brazilian researcher named Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, which was where the disease obtained its name from. Chagas Disease has expanded from Latin America to other countries, including Mexico. Rural areas are at great risk of this of developing this disease, but migration has been a key factor for the expansion of it to growing countries like the United States.

The case study, The Case of Tropical Disease and Its Treatment: Science, Society, and Economy explores the Chagas disease (diagnosis) and a possible alternative treatment. This essay will focus on the Chagas disease in depth covering concepts including background, treatment and alternative solutions/treatment. The objective of this essay is to identify diseases endemic to South America (Costa Rica), examine the Chagas disease (signs and symptoms, treatment, and control) and alternative treatment solutions, and formulate an implementation plan to control the Chagas disease throughout South America.