Chagas' disease

noun Cha·gas' disease \ˈshä-gəs-, -gə-səz-\

Definition of CHAGAS' DISEASE

: a tropical American disease that is caused by a trypanosome (Trypanosoma cruzi) and is marked by prolonged high fever, edema, and enlargement of the spleen, liver, and lymph nodes

Origin of CHAGAS' DISEASE

Carlos Chagas †1934 Brazilian physician

First Known Use: 1912

Medical Dictionary

Chagas' disease

noun Cha·gas' disease \ˈshäg-əs-(əz-)\

Medical Definition of CHAGAS' DISEASE

: a tropical American disease that is caused by a protozoan of the genus Trypanosoma (T. cruzi) transmitted by reduviid bugs especially of the genus Triatoma, that has an acute form primarily affecting children and marked by chagoma, fever, edema, enlargement of the spleen, liver, and lymph nodes, and sometimes by myocarditis, and that also has a chronic form which may or may not follow an acute episode, progresses over time, and is marked especially by cardiac and gastrointestinal complications (as myocarditis, ventricular hypertrophy, megacolon, or megaesophagus)

Biographical Note for CHAGAS' DISEASE

Chagas, Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano (1879–1934), Brazilian physician. Early in his career Chagas undertook a malaria control campaign that used pyrethrum to disinfect households and that proved to be the first successful campaign against malaria in the history of Brazil. During 1909 and 1910 Chagas discovered and described the disease named after him. He discovered that it is caused by a species of trypanosome transmitted by bloodsucking reduviid bugs and that it is manifested by fever and edema and later by cardiac disturbances. He also described its epidemiology and some of its pathogenic hosts.