chagas' disease: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

Treatment with antiparasitic drugs like benznidazole or nifurtimox is most effective in the acute phase and can cure the infection, but it is less effective in the chronic phase, where management focuses on symptomatic relief and complications.

Primarily through the faeces of infected triatomine bugs (kissing bugs) entering the body via the bite wound or mucous membranes. It can also be transmitted via congenital (mother-to-child) transmission, blood transfusion, organ transplantation, or contaminated food.

It is endemic in 21 countries across continental Latin America. However, due to global migration, cases are increasingly detected in non-endemic countries like the United States, Canada, Spain, and other European nations.

The acute phase may be asymptomatic or cause mild fever, swelling at the infection site (chagoma), and swollen eyelids (Romaña's sign). After a long asymptomatic period, 20-30% of infected people develop chronic symptoms, primarily cardiomyopathy (heart failure, arrhythmias) or digestive mega-syndromes (enlarged oesophagus or colon).

A tropical parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, primarily transmitted by triatomine bugs, and characterized by acute and chronic phases that can lead to severe cardiac and digestive complications.

Chagas' disease is usually medical/technical, academic in register.

Chagas' disease: in British English it is pronounced /ˈʃæɡəs dɪˌziːz/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈtʃɑːɡəs dɪˌziːz/ or /ˈʃɑːɡəs dɪˌziːz/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.