EDITORIAL Chagas disease: are we there yet? Benjamin A. Zaniello Providence Health and Services, Seattle, WA, United States of America
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Jackson Y, Getaz L, Wolff H, et al. Prevalence, clinical staging and risk for blood-borne transmission of Chagas disease among Latin American migrants in Geneva, Switzerland. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2010; 4: e592. Pinazo MJ, Canas E, Elizalde JI, et al. Diagnosis, management and treatment of chronic Chagas' gastrointestinal disease in areas where Trypanosoma cruzi infection is not endemic. Gastroenterologia y hepatologia 2010; 33: 191-200. Zaniello BA, Kessler DA, Vine KM, et al. Seroprevalence of Chagas infection in the donor population. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2012; 6: e1771. Custer B, Agapova M, Bruhn R, et al. Epidemiologic and laboratory findings from 3 years of testing United States blood donors for Trypanosoma cruzi. Transfusion 2012; 52: 1901-11. Piron M, Verges M, Muñoz J, et al. Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in at-risk blood donors in Catalonia (Spain). Transfusion 2008; 48: 1862-8. Munoz J, Coll O, Juncosa T, et al. Prevalence and vertical transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi infection among pregnant Latin American women attending 2 maternity clinics in Barcelona, Spain. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2009; 48: 1736-40. Barona-Vilar C, Gimenez-Marti MJ, Fraile T, et al. Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in pregnant Latin American women and congenital transmission rate in a non-endemic area: the experience of the Valencian Health Programme (Spain). Epidemiol Infect 2012; 140: 1896-903. Angheben A, Anselmi M, Gobbi F, et al. Chagas disease in Italy: breaking an epidemiological silence. Euro Surveill 2011; 16: pii=19969. Ramos JM, Pinargote H, Andreu M, et al. Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Latin American pregnant women and level of compliance of the Valencian Health Programme in the city of Alicante. Epidemiol Infect 2014; 142: 888-90. Angheben A, Boix L, Buonfrate D, et al. Chagas disease and transfusion medicine: a perspective from non-endemic countries. Blood Transfus 2015; 13: 540-50.
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Hotez et al.1 described Chagas Disease as the "new HIV/AIDS of the Americas" in 2012, three years after the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Chagas disease. Three more years have passed: has this description born out? As immigration from Latin America, the traditional locus of Trypanosoma cruzi infections, continues to increase, are care providers seeing more of the disease in emergency rooms or in offices? And what about the blood supply - how safe is it from Chagas disease? And if not, what can we do to guarantee its safety? There have been several excellent clinical reviews on Chagas over the years, including but not limited to the recent Bern paper in NEMJ2 and Rassi's in Lancet in 20103. Additional studies have emerged that investigate the epidemiology of Chagas outside of South America, in small and large cities, often using transfusion as the vehicle for case diagnosis, and show a higher prevalence than expected4-12. However there has been no review of transfusion studies that covers the best practices in transfusion medicine when confronting this now worldwide pathogen. This is particularly critical today given the geographic and therefore knowledge gap between medicine in traditional Chagas strongholds in the Southern Hemisphere and the disease's new world in Europe and the United States. This issue of Blood Transfusion addresses this urgent need; beyond giving an up to date, accessible overview of Chagas disease, it combines what we know today about the geography of T. cruzi outside of South America with the best practices of large transfusion centers in securing the blood supply13. Angheben and Colleagues provide an opportunity for readers to become both current on Chagas disease and learn about the different strategies to reduce its transmission.
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The Author declares no conflict of interest.
References 1) 2) 3)
Hotez PJ, Dumonteil E, Woc-Colburn L, et al. Chagas disease: the new HIV/AIDS of the Americas. PLOS NTD 2012; 6: e1498. Bern C. Chagas' Disease. N Engl J Med 2015; 373: 456-66. Rassi A, Marin-Neto JA. Chagas disease. Lancet 2010; 375: 1388-402.
Correspondence: Benjamin A. Zaniello Providence Health and Services 800 5th Ave Seattle, WA 98104, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Blood Transfus 2015; 13: 539 DOI 10.2450/2015.0256-15 © SIMTI Servizi Srl
539 All rights reserved - For personal use only No other uses without permission
6) 7) 8) 9)
Sr l
5)
Jackson Y, Getaz L, Wolff H, et al. Prevalence, clinical staging and risk for blood-borne transmission of Chagas disease among Latin American migrants in Geneva, Switzerland. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2010; 4: e592. Pinazo MJ, Canas E, Elizalde JI, et al. Diagnosis, management and treatment of chronic Chagas' gastrointestinal disease in areas where Trypanosoma cruzi infection is not endemic. Gastroenterologia y hepatologia 2010; 33: 191-200. Zaniello BA, Kessler DA, Vine KM, et al. Seroprevalence of Chagas infection in the donor population. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2012; 6: e1771. Custer B, Agapova M, Bruhn R, et al. Epidemiologic and laboratory findings from 3 years of testing United States blood donors for Trypanosoma cruzi. Transfusion 2012; 52: 1901-11. Piron M, Verges M, Muñoz J, et al. Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in at-risk blood donors in Catalonia (Spain). Transfusion 2008; 48: 1862-8. Munoz J, Coll O, Juncosa T, et al. Prevalence and vertical transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi infection among pregnant Latin American women attending 2 maternity clinics in Barcelona, Spain. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2009; 48: 1736-40. Barona-Vilar C, Gimenez-Marti MJ, Fraile T, et al. Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in pregnant Latin American women and congenital transmission rate in a non-endemic area: the experience of the Valencian Health Programme (Spain). Epidemiol Infect 2012; 140: 1896-903. Angheben A, Anselmi M, Gobbi F, et al. Chagas disease in Italy: breaking an epidemiological silence. Euro Surveill 2011; 16: pii=19969. Ramos JM, Pinargote H, Andreu M, et al. Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Latin American pregnant women and level of compliance of the Valencian Health Programme in the city of Alicante. Epidemiol Infect 2014; 142: 888-90. Angheben A, Boix L, Buonfrate D, et al. Chagas disease and transfusion medicine: a perspective from non-endemic countries. Blood Transfus 2015; 13: 540-50.
iz i
4)
er v
Hotez et al.1 described Chagas Disease as the "new HIV/AIDS of the Americas" in 2012, three years after the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Chagas disease. Three more years have passed: has this description born out? As immigration from Latin America, the traditional locus of Trypanosoma cruzi infections, continues to increase, are care providers seeing more of the disease in emergency rooms or in offices? And what about the blood supply - how safe is it from Chagas disease? And if not, what can we do to guarantee its safety? There have been several excellent clinical reviews on Chagas over the years, including but not limited to the recent Bern paper in NEMJ2 and Rassi's in Lancet in 20103. Additional studies have emerged that investigate the epidemiology of Chagas outside of South America, in small and large cities, often using transfusion as the vehicle for case diagnosis, and show a higher prevalence than expected4-12. However there has been no review of transfusion studies that covers the best practices in transfusion medicine when confronting this now worldwide pathogen. This is particularly critical today given the geographic and therefore knowledge gap between medicine in traditional Chagas strongholds in the Southern Hemisphere and the disease's new world in Europe and the United States. This issue of Blood Transfusion addresses this urgent need; beyond giving an up to date, accessible overview of Chagas disease, it combines what we know today about the geography of T. cruzi outside of South America with the best practices of large transfusion centers in securing the blood supply13. Angheben and Colleagues provide an opportunity for readers to become both current on Chagas disease and learn about the different strategies to reduce its transmission.
11)
12)
©
SI
M
TI S
10)
13)
The Author declares no conflict of interest.
References 1) 2) 3)
Hotez PJ, Dumonteil E, Woc-Colburn L, et al. Chagas disease: the new HIV/AIDS of the Americas. PLOS NTD 2012; 6: e1498. Bern C. Chagas' Disease. N Engl J Med 2015; 373: 456-66. Rassi A, Marin-Neto JA. Chagas disease. Lancet 2010; 375: 1388-402.
Correspondence: Benjamin A. Zaniello Providence Health and Services 800 5th Ave Seattle, WA 98104, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Blood Transfus 2015; 13: 539 DOI 10.2450/2015.0256-15 © SIMTI Servizi Srl
539 All rights reserved - For personal use only No other uses without permission
