Estado de los estudios epidemiológicos sobre la enfermedad de Chagas en Chile

Abstract

Chagas' disease exists in rural and suburban areas of the nine northern provinces of Chile. Those areas have a population of 1,800,000 and it is estimated that 15 percent of them, i.e., 270,000 persons, are infected by Trypanosoma cruzi. The most important vector is the Triatoma infestans, a primarily domestic species. It was found to be infected in 33 percent of the cases. The animal carriers of greatest importance are the dog and cat, among domestic animals, and a rat species and two species of male foxes, among the wild animals

Research must be continued in order to better determine the morbidity and mortality rates of the infection from Trypanosoma cruzi(AU)