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Human American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease — named after Carlos Chagas who first described it in 1909 — exists only on the American continent. It is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, that is transmitted to humans by blood-sucking triatomine bugs, by blood transfusion, and transplacentally.

Chagas disease has two, successive phases: acute and chronic. The acute phase lasts 6–8 weeks. After several years of starting the chronic phase, 20%–35% of infected individuals (the percentage varying with geographical area) develop irreversible lesions of the autonomous nervous system in the heart, the oesophagus, the colon and/or the peripheral nervous system. Data on the prevalence and distribution of Chagas disease markedly improved in quality during the 1980s, as a result of demographically representative, cross-sectional studies carried out in countries where no accurate information on these …