Chagas disease – chances are you’ve never heard of it but
you should know about it because it is in Belize and it is potentially deadly.
It is a disease found only in Latin America and it is transmitted in only two
ways – either by a bug or blood transfusion. There has been no death reported
in Belize but there has been a sharp increase of infections reported in Belize.
The Pan American Health Organization and Ministry of Health held a workshop
this week to discuss the signs, symptoms, and treatment options for chagas.
Here’s why you need to be aware.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is a kissing bug. It may look harmless but if it is infected with chagas,
this bug could be carrying the kiss of death.
Dr. Jose Antonio Marenco, Dir. of Environmental Health Program
“It is transmitted by a bug and whenever the bug inoculates the person
or sucks blood from the person, usually at the same time it defecates on the
skin of the person and it is usually the faeces of the bug that are infectious. 
So people eventually smear the faeces of the bug, whether in their eyes or any
breakage in the skin and there is where the infection goes into the body.”
Prof. Alejandro Luguetti, Chagas Expert
“These bugs are located in Mexico, Guatemala, in countries surrounding
Belize and so it is very likely that we will find some bugs here.”
Dr. Jose Antonio Marenco,
“This disease is commonly called the silent killer because it doesn’t
show until late in its development. Chagas disease is perhaps not as common
as we hear malaria, dengue, influenza etc. but it is a disease that is getting
gradually more and more importance in Belize.”
And that is because from January to July, 27 persons from various parts of
Belize tested positive for chagas. Dr. Jose Antonio Marenco says there are some 
obvious symptoms such as a swollen eye.
Dr. Jose Antonio Marenco,
“This initially might just show with a few symptoms or a mild illness
or sometimes just with a swelling of one of the eyes, not two of them; usually
it is only one of them. The swelling is not really explained, it doesn’t
hurt and it may last for a couple weeks. The infection can go on unnoticed and
here is this person 20 or 30 years later showing heart problems, debilitating
hearts problems and eventually leading to early death in the persons.”
Prof. Alejandro Luguetti,
“The people infected might die from an acute phase of the diseases
or may have cardiac alterations years later or sometimes some problems in the
intestinal tract.”
And as deadly as it could be, chagas is treatable. Those treatment options
are being discussed at a two day workshop sponsored by the Pan American Health
Organization and chaired by chagas expert – Professor Alejandro Luguetti
from Brazil.
Dr. Jose Antonio Marenco,
“The main objective of the workshop is to train medical staff in proper
management of this disease. We have emphasized the need to do more screening
to be able to identify where the bug is and try to get the cases in the acute
phase where we can treat them successfully.”
The workshop ended today. We must stress again that there has been
no chagas related death in Belize. What’s also important is that the 27
confirmed cases from January to July were detected from blood samples taken
to the Belize Blood Bank. The disease is transmitted in the blood and so any
blood donated is screened for chagas. The 27 positive results is important since
there were only about 20 confirmed cases of chagas in the entire 2008. The bug
that transmits the disease has been found in belize but it didn’t test
positive for the parasite.
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