Posts tagged "Chagas disease"
This Giemsa-stained micrograph shows a Trypanosoma cruzi protozoan parasite during its leishmanial stage of development. T. cruzi, causes “Chagas disease”, a zoonotic disease that can be transmitted to humans by blood-sucking triatomine bugs. Here, the protozoa were cultured in a laboratory setting using a HeLa cell, S-3 culture.
This is a micrograph of Trypanosoma cruzi in a blood smear using Giemsa staining technique. This protozoan parasite, T. cruzi, is the causative agent for Chagas disease, also known as “American trypanosomiasis”. It is estimated that 16 - 18 million people are infected with Chagas disease, and of those infected, 50,000 will die each year.
Triatoma infestans or the “Kissing Bug”, “Assassin Bug”, or “Cone-Nose Bug”, is a vector for Chagas’ Disease. Chagas Disease is caused by the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi and is transmitted while the insect vector from the family Reduviidae, subfamily Triatominae, is blood-feeding on a human host.
Child from Panama suffering from Chagas disease manifested as an acute infection with swelling of the right eye.
In the chronic digestive form of the disease, the clinical manifestations result from dysperistalsis of the esophagus and colon caused by destruction of the myenteric plexuses, which consequently leads to megaesophagus and megacolon. Although isolated cases of autonomic disorders of the esophagus have been described in the acute phase of the disease, these occur mostly in the chronic phase, when the dysperistalsis and spasms are accompanied by enlargement of the esophagus. This picture shows megacolon.
Enormous megacolon in patient who suddenly died from Chagas cardiomyopathy.
In the chronic digestive form of the disease, the clinical manifestations result from dysperistalsis of the esophagus and colon caused by destruction of the myenteric plexuses, which consequently leads to megaesophagus and megacolon. Although isolated cases of autonomic disorders of the esophagus have been described in the acute phase of the disease, these occur mostly in the chronic phase, when the dysperistalsis and spasms are accompanied by enlargement of the esophagus. This picture shows the evolution of megaesophagus.
Esophagus dysperistalsis grade I (a), and megaesophagus grade II (b), grade III (c) and grade IV (d)
Rx showing enlargement of heart in chronic Chagas cardiomiopathy; b: ECG showing ventricle extrasystoles, A–V block, schemia, and myocardial fibrosis in chronic Chagas heart disease.