What is the pathogenesis of Chagas disease?
The pathogenesis of chronic Chagas heart disease is dependent on a low-grade but incessant systemic infection with documented immune-adverse reaction. Parasite persistence and immunological mechanisms are inextricably related in the myocardial aggression in the chronic phase of Chagas heart disease.
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Is Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness the same?
African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is caused by Trypanosoma brucei parasites in sub-Saharan Africa and is transmitted by the tsetse fly? (Glossina). American trypanosomiasis, or Chagas disease, is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi parasites in Latin America and is transmitted by the triatomine or ‘kissing’ bug.
What disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi?
Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insect vectors and is found only in the Americas (mainly, in rural areas of Latin America where poverty is widespread). Chagas disease (T. cruzi infection) is also referred to as American trypanosomiasis.
What are the long term consequences of Trypanosoma cruzi infection?
cruzi infection may result in arrhythmias, apical aneurysm, congestive heart failure, thromboembolism, and sudden death. Chagas cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of cardiomyopathy in South and Central America and the leading cause of cardiovascular death in disease-endemic regions.
How does infection with T cruzi lead to heart disease?
T. cruzi induce production of the potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 from infected endothelial cells which may aggravate myocardial ischemia due to decreased circulatory capacity [23]. Another possibility is that microvascular damage may be indirectly initiated by the parasite, as it has been shown that T.
How does Chagas cause cardiomyopathy?
A direct parasite-targeted immune response and infection-triggered autoreactivity likely combine to produce substantial and ongoing inflammation, myocytolysis, and the superimposed reactive and reparative fibrosis characteristic of the chronic phase of Chagas cardiomyopathy.
How does Chagas disease cause cardiomyopathy?
The pathology of Chagas disease is based in an inmunoinflammatory reaction producing fibrosis and remodelling, mainly in the myocardium. In many cases these mechanisms result in a dilated cardiomyopathy with HF and reduced ejection fraction, frequent cardiac arrhythmias and different types of heart block.
What is Chagas cardiomyopathy?
INTRODUCTION. Chagas disease (CD) is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan parasite that can cause acute myopericarditis as well as chronic fibrosing myocarditis. CD is the most common cause of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy in Latin America [1].
