Alarm on 'new HIV' in America

Chagas disease, which is a parasitic tropical disease transmitted to humans through blood-sucking insects, is considered "new HIV" in the Americas, according to a report by PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases .

The authors of the report include tropical disease experts from Baylor College of Medicine (USA), analyzing that the spread of Chagas disease in the Northern Hemisphere has a similarity to the early expansion of the great HIV epidemic.

Triatoma bloodbugs carry parasites trypanosomiasis that causes Chagas disease

Chagas is also known as American trypanosomiasis because the blood-sucking insects carry a single-celled parasite trypanosomes , which is the culprit in sleeping sickness in Africa.

Sleep sickness is a serious disease caused by parasite trypanosomiasis in tsetse flies, according to AFP. Flies tsetse transmit trypanosomiasis to humans during blood sucking. This parasite then attacks the brain, resulting in a serious sleep disorder leading to coma and death.

Like HIV, Chagas disease has a long incubation period and has no cure, the report said. Statistics show that up to 8 million people living in the Northern Hemisphere are infected, mostly in Bolivia, Mexico, Columbia and Central America. Of these, more than 300,000 are immigrants currently living in the United States.

Chagas can be passed from mother to child or from blood transfusions. About a quarter of the end-stage victims will have an enlarged heart or intestine. These organs may be impaired or broken, leading to sudden death. Patients require strict medication for three months and usually only work when treated early.

Although drug prices for treating Chagas disease are not as expensive as drugs for HIV treatment, it is difficult to find in poor countries. Also because this is a disease of the poor, the investment in finding effective treatments is very limited.