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Chagas

Chagas

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to humans by blood-sucking bugs. The majority of those infected show no signs or symptoms at the time of infection, and the symptoms can go unnoticed for many years. Ultimately, debilitating chronic symptoms develop in approximately one-third of people infected, with heart failure being the most common complication.  and cause of death for adults. Chagas disease is endemic in 21 countries in Latin America, with up to 8-10 million cases globally, resulting in an estimated 12,500 annual deaths Diagnosis and Treatment Diagnosing Chagas disease is complicated, as medical staff need to perform two or three blood tests to establish a firm result. But new...
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Chagas: Making a noise about the ‘silent disease’

14 April 2012
rapid diagnostic test for Chagas
rapid diagnostic test for Chagas
By Unni Karunakara, international president of the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF)   Click on the photo to view the slideshow. The rapid diagnostic test for Chagas that exists today is an inadequate tool to diagnose the disease; Initial positive results must be reconfirmed by two more laboratory blood tests that can take another 15 days. Photo: Anna Surinyach/MSF   The fight against Chagas – a tropical parasitic disease that affects between eight and ten million people in Latin America – has seen major advances in recent years. This is good news for sufferers of the neglected disease, and also for Mé...
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Special Report: Access to Essential Medicines - Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

05 December 2011
Cryptococcal meningitis
The womens ward at the Homa Bay District Hospital in Western Kenya.
  Download the report Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011   2011 marks the ten-year anniversary of two events that have helped shape people’s ability in developing countries to access quality, affordable medical care. First, the signing of the Doha Declaration, in which governments affirmed the need to prioritize health over trade: access to affordable medicines over intellectual property rights. But a decade later, the struggle to access medicines in developing countries continues. One key fault line is India, which is home of the most quality affordable medicines used in the developing world, but which faces...
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MSF Releases 'Ten Stories That Mattered in Access to Medicines in 2011'

21 December 2011
A list of "Ten Stories that Mattered in Access to Medicines in 2011"  was released today by the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The list looks at developments in 2011 that had an impact—whether positive or negative—on people’s ability to access needed drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines in developing countries. Download the report Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011   For the diseases our medical teams encounter every day in places where we work, 2011 was a year of both critical progress and dangerous backsliding,” said Dr. Tido von Schoen-...
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Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

20 December 2011
Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011
Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011
Through its Access Campaign, MSF has been closely following the developments in the world of access to medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics.
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MSF Activity Report 2010

20 July 2011
MSF Activity Report 2010
MSF Activity Report 2010
Open publication - Free publishing - More 2010 The International Activity Report 2010 gives details of the worldwide operational activities of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Overall, 27,650 MSF staff members worked on 427 projects in 60 countries, bringing medical assistance to people affected by natural disaster, armed conflict and epidemics. Our teams carried out some 7.3 million outpatient consultations and over 58,000 surgical interventions.  
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Interview with General Coordinator Henry Rodriguez on stockouts of critical Chagas treatment

29 June 2011
Henry Rodríguez, general coordinator for MSF in Bolivia and Paraguay
Henry Rodríguez, general coordinator for MSF in Bolivia and Paraguay
“We are wasting the opportunity to put people who need it on Chagas treatment.”  Chagas projects in Bolivia and Paraguay have seen their capacity to treat patients limited due to a shortage in the first-line drug benznidazol. Only one laboratory in Brazil makes the drug, and manufacturing has been delayed. Henry Rodríguez, general coordinator for MSF in Bolivia and Paraguay, describes the situation in MSF projects in those countries.   Photo: MSF What is the impact on projects of the delay in benznidazol? No new treatment can be started until we have more drugs because we can’t risk having to interrupt patients’ treatment. If treatment is stopped for longer than a...
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World Health Assembly: MSF and DNDi call for a more rounded resolution on Chagas disease

17 May 2010
World Health Assembly
World Health Assembly
The resolution, ‘Chagas Disease: Control and Elimination’, to be adopted by the World health Organisation (WHO), is a step in the right direction but should not focus only in prevention    Geneva – The resolution, ‘Chagas Disease: Control and Elimination’, is about to be adopted this week at the World Health Assembly (WHA). While a step in the right direction, the resolution lacks elements essential in tackling Chagas disease and only focuses on prevention. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi) call on Member States to include the integration of treatment and diagnosis at primary healthcare level and increased...
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Chagas: Fighting a silent disease in Colombia

17 May 2010
Chagas: Fighting a silent disease in Colombia
Chagas: Fighting a silent disease in Colombia
Angela lives in Genareros, an indigenous community in Arauca region, Colombia. In April 2010, two of her seven children completed their treatment for Chagas, a disease transmitted by an insect common in rural areas where people live in houses made of clay and straw. As Angela’s young children Yosney and Maryeli celebrated the end of their treatment, she found out that another two of her children also had the disease. Indigenous community "Genareros". Chagas disease is diagnosed through a blood serum test. Patients who are confirmed to have Chagas disease are given a medical check-up before they start a two-month long treatment. Photo: Mads Nissen Chagas disease is endemic in most Latin American countries. In Colombia...
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by Dr. Radut.