Chagas Disease Project

Background

Chagas disease, caused by protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, affects ~8 million people in Mexico, Central & South America, and ~240,000-350,000 people in the USA. The main route of infection is through insect vectors, most frequently triatomine bugs.

Chagas disease has acute and chronic phases:

  • Acute phase can last from few weeks to few months and is usually mild and asymptomatic.
  • Chronic phase is usually lifelong and asymptomatic, but in 20-30% of patients can cause severe cardiac or gastrointestinal complications.

Diagnosing Chagas disease usually requires review of the patient history and history of potential exposure to insect vectors in endemic areas.

Treatment is very effective if prescribed during the acute phase.

In the USA, Chagas disease mostly affects migrant workers and immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, and travelers to these regions.

  • Only a few states implement surveillance of blood donor screening for T. cruzi-specific antibodies. 

Specific Aims

  • To build a full-spectrum translational research team that engages community-based practicing primary care clinicians with laboratory scientists to examine the emerging Chagas disease epidemic in the USA (Community-engaged research aim)
  • To conduct bi-directional workforce training and development activities that bring together clinicians and investigators to build a learning community that will learn from each other as part of hybrid onsite/online CME-accredited trainings (Education and Training aim)
  • To evaluate the feasibility and utility of extracting electronic health records data to characterize the epidemiology and practice patterns related to testing and treatment of Chagas disease among participating FQHCs (Descriptive epidemiologic aim)

Current Collaborators and Partnering Institutions

Clinical Directors Network, Inc. (CDN)

Jonathan N. Tobin, PhD, Marija Zeremski, PhD, Yiqi Tian, MSc

Rockefeller University Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Jonathan N. Tobin, PhD, Rhonda G. Kost, MD, Robert B MacArthur, PharmD, MS, Jill Horowitz, PhD & Anuradha Hashemi, MPH

Sun River Health

Nancy Piper Jenks, MS, CFNP, MFTM RCPS (Glasg), FAANP

Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN)

Deliana Garcia, MA

Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD), UCSD

James McKerrow, PhD, MD

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA)

Kathleen R. Stevens, RN, EdD, ANEF, FAAN