Chagas disease in North America: An interview with Dr. Peter Hotez
At the end of October, there was an editorial published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, by founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Peter Hotez, which among other things made the case that the parasitic infection, Chagas disease is seen in North America’s impoverished at the rate of 1.5 to 7 million people.
Kissing bug next to penny
Image/Rachel Curtis-Hamer Labs
I spoke to Dr. Hotez earlier this week, and the interview was played on the Saturday, Nov. 9 airing of the Outbreak News This Week Radio show (Listen below).
Hotez talked about the estimated numbers presented in the editorial, which place the number of cases of Chagas disease in the United States to be somewhere between 300,000 and 1 million. The United States is ranked 7th among nations for the amount of cases.
In addition, he talked about the number of pregnant women in North America infected with the parasite, how well prepared the US medical and public health establishment is for this situation and vaccines in the pipeline.
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[…] in several areas of the United States Chagas is ever present, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, who […]
[…] to Dr. Peter Hotez, founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College o…dicine, the estimated number of cases of Chagas disease in the United States is somewhere between […]
[…] News has an interview on Chagas disease, which afflicts between 300,000 and 1 million people in the […]