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Chagas may be migrating to urban areas, study warns
16 Apr 2010 16:33:00 GMT
Source: SciDev.Net
Marielba N��ez
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
[CARACAS] Chagas disease could spread from its rural strongholds into urban areas, scientists have warned, after a surprise outbreak in the Venezuelan capital was found to have local origins.
More than 100 children and staff fell ill at the school in Caracas, and one five-year-old died, as a result of the 2007 outbreak. Doctors diagnosed infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite which causes Chagas disease.
This is the largest known case of the rare oral transmission of the disease, and the first such event with urban origins, said the study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases last month (March).
The study traced the source of the outbreak to a jug of guava juice that had been prepared in a suburban home and left uncovered overnight. This allowed the insects that carry the infection � triatomines, usually only found in forested areas, to contaminate the juice.
These insect vectors may now be adapting to semi-urban areas, where expanding cities meet forests, and could become a bigger threat to people through food contamination in the cities, researchers said...
Chagas may be migrating to urban areas, study warns
16 Apr 2010 16:33:00 GMT
Source: SciDev.Net
Marielba N��ez
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
[CARACAS] Chagas disease could spread from its rural strongholds into urban areas, scientists have warned, after a surprise outbreak in the Venezuelan capital was found to have local origins.
More than 100 children and staff fell ill at the school in Caracas, and one five-year-old died, as a result of the 2007 outbreak. Doctors diagnosed infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite which causes Chagas disease.
This is the largest known case of the rare oral transmission of the disease, and the first such event with urban origins, said the study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases last month (March).
The study traced the source of the outbreak to a jug of guava juice that had been prepared in a suburban home and left uncovered overnight. This allowed the insects that carry the infection � triatomines, usually only found in forested areas, to contaminate the juice.
These insect vectors may now be adapting to semi-urban areas, where expanding cities meet forests, and could become a bigger threat to people through food contamination in the cities, researchers said...