RESUMO
Chagas disease is an important emerging disease in Texas that results in cardiomyopathy in about 30% of those infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Between the years 2008 and 2012, about 1/6500 blood donors were T. cruzi antibody-confirmed positive. We found older persons and minority populations, particularly Hispanic, at highest risk for screening positive for T. cruzi antibodies during routine blood donation. Zip code analysis determined that T. cruzi is associated with poverty. Chagas disease has a significant disease burden and is a cause of substantial economic losses in Texas.
Assuntos
Doadores de Sangue/estatística & dados numéricos , Doença de Chagas/epidemiologia , Programas de Rastreamento , Trypanosoma cruzi/isolamento & purificação , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Anticorpos Antiprotozoários/sangue , Doença de Chagas/parasitologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prevalência , Fatores de Risco , Estudos Soroepidemiológicos , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Texas/epidemiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
In the poorest regions of the United States, especially along the Gulf Coast and in South Texas, are a group of endemic parasitic and related infections known as the neglected infections of poverty. Such infections are characterized by their chronicity, disabling features, and disproportionate impact on the estimated 46 million people who live below the U.S. poverty line. Today more Americans live in poverty than ever before in the half-century that the Census Bureau has been recording poverty rates. In association with that poverty, a group of major neglected infections of poverty have emerged in the United States. Here we describe the major neglected infections of poverty in the United States, with a brief overview of their significant epidemiological features, their links with poverty, and our approaches to their diagnosis, management, and treatment.