How to Diagnose Chagas Disease

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. It is a parasitic disease endemic in Central and South America and infects millions. Chagas disease usually does not produce symptoms, but it can become serious and even fatal. The affected individual may not show any signs of chronic infection until many years after the initial infection. The following steps will show how to diagnose Chagas disease.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Expect the first symptom to be a red nodule (known as a chagoma) on the face or arm that appears at the site of an insect bite in one to three weeks. The chagoma may be painful and later becomes hard and pale.

2. Observe symptoms of the acute phase of Chagas disease. As the organism spreads throughout the body, the patient may develop flu-like symptoms with fever that may last as long as five weeks. Cardiac symptoms are almost always present at this point and nose bleeds also are common in young children.

3. Notice symptoms of gastrointestinal involvement as Chagas disease progresses to the chronic form. Swallowing difficulties are the most common symptom and others include abdominal pain, constipation and coughing. One fourth of patients also experience excessive salivation.

4. Detect Trypanosoma cruzi in the blood. This organism can frequently be observed during the acute phase which lasts six to 12 weeks. A blood smear with Giemsa staining or direct wet mount preparations is examined microscopically.

5. Confirm the diagnosis of later infections by culturing this parasite on a special medium or with xenodiagnosis.

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