Chagas disease

noun

Cha·​gas disease ˈshä-gəs- 

-gə-səz-

variants or Chagas' disease

: a tropical American disease that is caused by a trypanosome (Trypanosoma cruzi) transmitted chiefly by blood-sucking insects (genus Triatoma, Rhodnius, or Panstrongylus) and that occurs in both an acute and chronic form

Note: The acute form of Chagas disease lasts for several weeks to months and is marked by mild symptoms (such as fever, fatigue, or swelling at the infection site) or rarely by serious symptoms (such as myocarditis or meningoencephalitis) but is often asymptomatic. The acute form may sometimes progress years later to a chronic form characterized especially by cardiac and gastrointestinal complications (such as cardiomyopathy, irregular heart rhythm, and enlargement of the colon or esophagus).

Chagas disease kills more Latin Americans than any other parasitic illness.

—The Economist

Chagas' disease spreads via insect fecal contamination of its own bite.

—Phil Gunby

called also American trypanosomiasis

Examples of Chagas disease in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another photo in this category (shown below) was made by researchers in Brazil who study the parasite that causes Chagas disease. —Eva Amsen, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025

The lab that demonstrated bedbugs’ potential as vectors of Chagas disease got the idea from a paragraph-long description of a study from 1912, says Michael Levy, an epidemiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who led the 2014 study. —Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024

By Racz’s desk sits a cardboard box of parasite stuffed animals featuring cartoonish lice, ticks and the protozoan that causes Chagas disease. —Hannah Richter, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 July 2024

Hotez has led or is currently leading development of vaccines for hookworm, schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, and SARS. —Peter Hotez, TIME, 2 May 2024

The new policy, passed by board members of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, will require the groups that recover organs in the U.S. to test the blood of donors born in countries where Chagas disease is prevalent, including Mexico and 20 nations in South and Central America. —Caroline Chen, ProPublica, 27 June 2023

Now, a new study of Indigenous peoples from the Amazon rainforest reveals one more such adaptation: a genetic resistance to the endemic parasite responsible for deadly Chagas disease. —Byrodrigo Pérez Ortega, science.org, 8 Mar. 2023

Neglected diseases of poverty are a group of chronic and disabling illnesses, such as Chagas disease, hookworm, and Dengue fever, that primarily impact extremely impoverished people. —Joshua Cohen, Forbes, 17 Feb. 2023

Some kissing bugs can carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, which, left untreated, can lead to serious heart or digestive problems. —Women's Health, 1 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

Carlos Chagas †1934 Brazilian physician

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Chagas disease

• actuaries
• analyses
• anopheles
• antitheses
• apostrophes
• catalyses
• distributees
• examinees
• hypotheses
• interviewees
• isosceles
• paralyses

Medical Definition

Chagas disease

noun

Cha·​gas disease ˈshäg-əs- 

variants or Chagas' disease

ˈshäg-əs-(əz-)

: a tropical American disease that is caused by a parasitic protozoan of the genus Trypanosoma (T. cruzi) transmitted chiefly by blood-sucking reduviid insects (genus Triatoma, Rhodnius, or Panstrongylus) and that occurs in both an acute and chronic form

Note: The acute form of Chagas disease lasts for several weeks to months and is marked by mild symptoms (such as fever, fatigue, or swelling at the infection site) or rarely by serious symptoms (such as myocarditis or meningoencephalitis) but is often asymptomatic. The acute form may sometimes progress years later to a chronic form characterized especially by cardiac and gastrointestinal complications (such as cardiomyopathy, irregular heart rhythm, and enlargement of the colon or esophagus).

called also American trypanosomiasis