Chagas heart disease is an inflammatory cardiomyopathy that develops in approximately
one-third of people infected with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. One way T.
cruzi is transmitted to people is through contact with infected kissing bugs, which are found
in much of the Western Hemisphere, including in vast areas of the United States. The
epidemiology of T. cruzi and Chagas heart disease and the varied mechanisms leading to
myocyte destruction, mononuclear cell infiltration, fibrosis, and edema in the heart have …