14th April, World Chagas Disease Day 2024
According to data from the World Health Organization, Chagas disease (also known as American trypanosomiasis) afflicts around 7 million people worldwide, with 12,000 deaths every year. It is prevalent among poor populations of continental Latin America but is increasingly being detected in other countries and continents.
The year 2024 marks 115 years since one of the great achievements in Brazilian science: Carlos Chagas, a young researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, discovered the disease that bears his name.
This special issue was published in 2009 to mark the centennial of the discovery. It features four articles – three in Portuguese and English and one in Spanish – that address the discovery of Chagas disease and the ensuing research in Brazil and abroad.
Read more:
Chagas disease and tropical medicine in Brazil, 1908-1909 -The disease was discovered in 1909 by the Brazilian sanitary physician Carlos Chagas at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
Carlos Chagas in the Amazon, 1913 – It reviews the 21 days expedition up the Yaco River, in Alto Purus, federal territory of Acre.
Brazilian researchers have successfully tested a vaccine for Chagas disease – Lab mice were observed after being infected with Chagas. While all animals that were not vaccinated died, 80% of those immunized survived.
Expert in Chagas disease dies at 93 – Gastroenterologist Dr. Joffre Marcondes de Rezende contributed to medicine relating the Megaesophagus condition to Chagas disease.
Two views on malaria – This research compares two views of malaria in the Amazon that coexisted side by side during the First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930). April 25, World Malaria Day.
