Chagas disease: Historic perspective

Publication date: Available online 27 January 2020Source: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of DiseaseAuthor(s): Carlos A. Vigliano, Chen Chao, José L. LeoneAbstractThis review is a perspective on the history of Chagas disease, and it adopts a novel approach from literary studies, historical documents and the science and epidemiology of the nature of the disease. From this analysis, comes the review's working definition of the Contact Zone (CZ): “the space in which geographically and historically separated people come into contact with each other and establish long-lasting relationships, which usually involve coercive conditions, radical inequality and intolerable conflict.”In the Patient-Physician CZ, we verified the triple transition phenomena: the American trypanosomiasis shifted from a rural, acute, and vectorial transmitted disease to an urban, chronic and non-vectorial disease.In the Academic CZ, we describe the original disagreements which denied the existence of the disease and the current controversies about pathogenic mechanisms and etiological treatment.From the News from Latino America, and in the Original CZ, we will review the evolution of different forms of transmission.As in any good story, research across broad disciplines is necessary to reveal historical perspectives, scientific approaches, and the epidemiology of the disease, which has a prequel of 9.000 years and an open ending: thus, we explore across the Global CZ, with its mu...
Source: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) Molecular Basis of Disease - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research