Chagas disease

noun

Cha·gas disease | \ˈshä-gəs-,

-gə-səz-\

variants: or Chagas' disease

Definition of Chagas disease

: a tropical American disease that is caused by a trypanosome (Trypanosoma cruzi) transmitted chiefly by blood-sucking insects (genus Triatoma, Rhodnius, and 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

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The first known use of Chagas disease was in 1912

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Chagas disease

noun

Cha·gas disease | \ˈshäg-əs-

variants: or Chagas' disease \ˈshäg-əs-(əz-) \

Medical Definition of Chagas disease

: 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, and Panstrongylus) and that occurs in both an acute and chronic form

— called also American trypanosomiasis