Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guatemala City (Agenzia Fides) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Guatemala the first Central American nation successful in stopping the transmission of Tripanosimiasis americana, also known as Chagas' disease (named after the person who discovered it).
Reaching this goal has not been easy and the path has been a long one. The battle began in 1998, with the creation of the IPCA (Initiative of the Central American Countries for the Control of Chagas' Disease). The main objective was to stop the transmission of the disease in the subregional area by 2010 and thus, they began promoting collaboration among the various countries, so as to carry out joint activities. In 2000, the Pan-American Health Organization and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) began technical and financial support for the Heath Department, with the goal of eliminating the insect that transmits the disease, in order to diminish its spread throughout homes as well. Today, 10 years later, the objective has been accomplished. After evaluating the advances of the country, an IPCA Commission stated that Guatemala should be declared free from transmission.
When news of the declaration got out, Maria Monroy, founder of the Entomology and Parasitology Laboratory of the Schoold of Sciences and Pharmaceutical Studies at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, expressed her delight and recalled how a decade ago her country had hundreds of cases of the Chagas' diesase.
According to statistics from the WHO, based on a 1981 study, 30,000 people per year were infected with the Chagas' disease (considered the highest incidence in the region), 730,000 were diagnosed as having the disease, and 40 million were at risk for contracting it. This disease has an 80% vectorial transmission. Other forms of transmission are through blood, congenitally, orally, or through an organ transplant.
Chagas' disease is, along with the sleeping disease, leishmaniasis, malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS, on e of the most forgotten diseases on the planet, according to Doctors Without Borders, and can lead to death in some cases. It mainly affects developing countries, with a high incidence rate. The parasite enters the bloodstream and, upon reaching the heart, destroys the tissue. It is clinically treatable, however the process is long, costly, and painful, Monroy says. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 15/12/2008)
