Quote :

"Chagas, a tropical disease spread by insects, is causing some fresh concern following an editorial—published earlier this week in a medical journal—that called it "the new AIDS of the Americas." More than 8 million people have been infected by Chagas, most of them in Latin and Central America. But more than 300,000 live in the United States. The editorial, published by the Public Library of Science's Neglected Tropical Diseases, said the spread of the disease is reminiscent of the early years of HIV. "There are a number of striking similarities between people living with Chagas disease and people living with HIV/AIDS," the authors wrote, "particularly for those with HIV/AIDS who contracted the disease in the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic." Both diseases disproportionately affect people living in poverty, both are chronic conditions requiring prolonged, expensive treatment, and as with patients in the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, "most patients with Chagas disease do not have access to health care facilities." Unlike HIV, Chagas is not a sexually-transmitted disease: it's "caused by parasites transmitted to humans by blood-sucking insects," as the New York Times put it. "It likes to bite you on the face," CNN reported. "It's called the kissing bug. When it ingests your blood, it excretes the parasite at the same time. When you wake up and scratch the itch, the parasite moves into the wound and you're infected." "Gaaah," Cassie Murdoch wrote on Jezebel.com, summing up the sentiment of everyone who read the journal's report. Chagas, also known as American trypanosomiasis, kills about 20,000 people per year, the journal said. And while just 20 percent of those infected with Chagas develop a life-threatening form of the disease, Chagas is "hard or impossible to cure," the Times reports: The disease can be transmitted from mother to child or by blood transfusion. About a quarter of its victims eventually will develop enlarged hearts or intestines, which can fail or burst, causing sudden death. Treatment involves harsh drugs taken for up to three months and works only if the disease is caught early. "The problem is once the heart symptoms start, which is the most dreaded complication—the Chagas cardiomyopathy—the medicines no longer work very well," Dr. Peter Hotez, a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine and one of the editorial's authors, told CNN. "Problem No. 2: the medicines are extremely toxic." And 11 percent of pregnant women in Latin America are infected with Chagas, the journal said."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chagas-tropical-disease-really-aids-145745645.html

6/1/2012 12:46:48 AM

Parasitology, muthafucka

6/1/2012 12:47:31 AM

I fail to see how it's like the new AIDS

I mean it's not an immunodeficiency syndrome

6/1/2012 1:30:23 AM

Quote :

"just 20 percent of those infected with Chagas develop a life-threatening form of the disease"

whats the rate of people with HIV getting AIDS, like 99%?

6/1/2012 2:05:59 AM

how is anything both new AND improved? if it's an improved version of something, it's not entirely new...if it's new, it's not the improved version of anything

6/1/2012 9:11:16 AM

Quote :

"Gaaah"

6/1/2012 9:13:47 AM

soooo...it's really nothing like AIDS at all.

6/1/2012 9:14:53 AM

I'm not just sure, I'm HIV Chagas positive.


Nope.

6/1/2012 9:27:47 AM

Quote :

"how is anything both new AND improved? if it's an improved version of something, it's not entirely new...if it's new, it's not the improved version of anything"

6/1/2012 10:54:21 AM

6/1/2012 11:01:15 AM

Quote :

"whats the rate of people with HIV getting AIDS, like 99%?"

yeah but this shit can cause exploding hearts!!!

6/1/2012 5:56:31 PM

Quote :

"I fail to see how it's like the new AIDS I mean it's not an immunodeficiency syndrome"

Did you even read the article? They aren't comparing symptoms. It's a comparison of the spread, relative in-curability and demographic of those infected.

6/1/2012 6:09:51 PM

Quote :

"whats the rate of people with HIV getting AIDS, like 99%?"

100 - Magic Johnson%

6/1/2012 6:41:43 PM

Quote :

"how is anything both new AND improved? if it's an improved version of something, it's not entirely new...if it's new, it's not the improved version of anything"

Because you're the one who added the word "entirely," which is not in the original description. Any amended version is new, no matter how small the revision.

6/1/2012 6:50:12 PM

So this is a gay people and drug addict disease, too?

6/1/2012 9:25:55 PM

Quote :

"When it ingests your blood, it excretes the parasite at the same time. When you wake up and scratch the itch, the parasite moves into the wound and you're infected."

I am now going to be afraid of scratching any bug bite I get ever

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

6/1/2012 10:35:13 PM

That's exactly what I took from that as well. Never scratching a bug bite ever again!

6/1/2012 10:51:21 PM

Worst thread title candidate here. Not a terribly strong nominee, but *sigh* nonetheless.

6/2/2012 12:05:19 AM

6/2/2012 12:10:59 AM