Chagas disease

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Prevention

By Mayo Clinic staff

If you live in a high-risk area for Chagas disease, these steps can help you prevent infection:

  • Avoid sleeping in a mud, thatch or adobe house, if possible. These types of residences are more likely to harbor reduviid bugs.
  • Use insecticide-soaked netting over your bed when sleeping in thatch, mud or adobe houses.
  • Use insecticides to remove insects from your residence.
Treatments and drugs
References
  1. Chagas: Detailed fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/chagas/factsheets/detailed.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
  2. Leder K, et al. Epidemiology and control of Chagas' disease. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=parasite/18. Accessed April 27, 2009.
  3. Bern C, et al. Evaluation and treatment of Chagas diseases in the United States: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2007;298:2171.
  4. Yacoub S, et al. Neglected tropical cardiomyopathies: I. Chagas disease. Heart. 2008;94:244.
  5. Milei J, et al. Prognostic impact of Chagas disease in the United States. American Heart Journal. 2009;157:22.
  6. Chagas disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.medhelp.org/NIHlib/GF-510.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.

DS00956

June 11, 2009

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