TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis) A1 - Zecca, Italo B. A1 - Hamer, Sarah A. A2 - Boulton, Matthew L. A2 - Wallace, Robert B. PY - 2022 T2 - Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health & Preventive Medicine, 16e AB - The etiological agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, is a single celled protozoal parasite primarily transmitted through the infected feces of blood feeding triatomine insects. The parasite was discovered in 1909 by a Brazilian scientist and physician named Carlos Chagas.1 Infected humans and animals may suffer a spectrum of acute and chronic health issues including fatal cardiac disease. Domestic and wild mammals serve as reservoirs for the parasite. The triatomine insect vector, commonly known as a kissing bug, is widely dispersed throughout the Americas, including South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southern United States (U.S.). Chagas disease may be found in other areas of the world where the vector is not present due to migration or travel of infected individuals into nonendemic countries.2 SN - PB - McGraw Hill CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1182666447 ER -