Slim Foundation Gives $2.6M to Fight Chagas Disease Carrie Feibel - Houston Public Media | |
go to original October 3, 2015 |
The little-known parasite that causes Chagas disease is a huge problem across Latin America, infecting five times as many people as HIV. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are working on a therapeutic vaccine.
Chagas disease is caused by a parasite that enters the blood stream and sometimes lives quietly for decades. But up to 30 percent of people will later develop complications, such as heart disease. The microscopic parasite can create little nests inside the cells of the heart muscle, causing cardiac problems and even death, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine.
“This is a disease that has been around a long time, but it’s mostly affecting people living in poverty,” Hotez said. “So we really haven’t paid much attention to the enormity of the problem.”
Poor people tend to be affected because it’s transmitted by the kissing bug, an insect that hides in the cracks and crevices of poor-quality houses in tropical climates.
This week, the Carlos Slim Foundation in Mexico announced a $2.6 million grant to scientists at Baylor who are working on a therapeutic vaccine for Chagas. Although a therapeutic vaccine won’t stop someone from getting the parasite, it could slow down the damage to the heart.
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