sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Chagas disease, long considered only a threat abroad, is established in California and the Southern U.S.
snip
Between 2019 and 2023, health officials confirmed about 18 cases of Chagas disease in L.A. County, “although many more cases likely go undiagnosed,” the department wrote in a statement. It said most of the identified cases were infected internationally, but some appear to be locally acquired.
Gabriel Hamer, an entomologist at Texas A&M, said that confirmed human cases in the U.S. represent “just the tip of the iceberg” and that nobody really knows how many people actually have the disease. “There’s no standardized reporting system. There’s no active surveillance.”
more... https://www.latimes.com/science/sto...adly-disease-youve-never-heard-of-but-is-here
snip
Between 2019 and 2023, health officials confirmed about 18 cases of Chagas disease in L.A. County, “although many more cases likely go undiagnosed,” the department wrote in a statement. It said most of the identified cases were infected internationally, but some appear to be locally acquired.
Gabriel Hamer, an entomologist at Texas A&M, said that confirmed human cases in the U.S. represent “just the tip of the iceberg” and that nobody really knows how many people actually have the disease. “There’s no standardized reporting system. There’s no active surveillance.”
more... https://www.latimes.com/science/sto...adly-disease-youve-never-heard-of-but-is-here