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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/he...s-disease-as-country-unsure-who-to-deal-with/
300,000 people in U.S. have Chagas disease as country unsure how to deal with growing threat
Published October 21, 2014
Fox News Latino
As the world continues to grapple with the Ebola epidemic raging in West Africa, there's growing concern about another invasive disease whose origin is much closer to home.
Chagas ? along with its cousins Dengue Fever and the Chikungunya virus ? is a disease found mainly in Latin America, but is starting to gain a foothold in the U.S. Caused by a parasite inside triatomines, or "kissing bugs," Chagas causes fever, fatigue, body aches, headache and other symptoms in its early stages, while more severe symptoms such as cardiac arrest and megacolon emerge in its chronic phase.
While the disease is found mainly in poor, rural parts of Latin America ? the U.S.?s Center for Disease Control estimates that 8 million people in the region live with the disease ? isolated cases of Chagas have begun to crop up throughout the U.S. in places like Louisiana, Texas and Virginia. The CDC believes that there are currently 300,000 people infected with Chagas in the U.S., enough for a clinic devoted to diagnosing and treating the disease to open at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and doctors in New York City and Georgia to start screening patients who have travelled to Latin America...
300,000 people in U.S. have Chagas disease as country unsure how to deal with growing threat
Published October 21, 2014
Fox News Latino
As the world continues to grapple with the Ebola epidemic raging in West Africa, there's growing concern about another invasive disease whose origin is much closer to home.
Chagas ? along with its cousins Dengue Fever and the Chikungunya virus ? is a disease found mainly in Latin America, but is starting to gain a foothold in the U.S. Caused by a parasite inside triatomines, or "kissing bugs," Chagas causes fever, fatigue, body aches, headache and other symptoms in its early stages, while more severe symptoms such as cardiac arrest and megacolon emerge in its chronic phase.
While the disease is found mainly in poor, rural parts of Latin America ? the U.S.?s Center for Disease Control estimates that 8 million people in the region live with the disease ? isolated cases of Chagas have begun to crop up throughout the U.S. in places like Louisiana, Texas and Virginia. The CDC believes that there are currently 300,000 people infected with Chagas in the U.S., enough for a clinic devoted to diagnosing and treating the disease to open at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and doctors in New York City and Georgia to start screening patients who have travelled to Latin America...