CHAGAS DISEASE AND ITS EFFECTS ON HEART DISEASE

Greetings dear readers, this time I want to share with you a topic related to Chagas disease and its possible causes to the heart disease suffered by people who suffer from it. In the continuous search to generate an explanation to the development of these diseases, a series of investigations have been carried out to help to generate an answer to this fact and to the discovery in the therapeutic field that help to mitigate this disease.

Chagas disease or trypanosomiasis, is a disease that originated in the late twentieth century in the Americas and occurs as a result of a bite of a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi (vinchucas), blood transfusion, organ transplantation, contamination by feces of the insect, among other means, this disease causes severe damage to the heart and stomach.

In Cordoba, research is being carried out in search of answers to explain the possible reasons for the cardiac alterations caused by genetic variations in people suffering from Chagas disease in order to help with the implementation of innovative treatments that can help with this disease.

During the corresponding investigations, 104 people participated, of whom 34 were not infected and 70 were infected with the disease, all of whom underwent different clinical and genetic analyses. The results of these studies showed changes in the SCN5A gene and quite rigid variations at the level of the heart. It should be noted that this gene is responsible for encoding the sodium channel of the heart cells.

Although these studies were carried out in few patients, it is inferred that there is a genetic change in the process of heart disease caused by trypanosomiasis. These heart problems are side effects that develop as a consequence of the infection caused by Chagas disease, and are due to severe inflammation in the heart muscle.

The main concern of this disease is that it chronically affects 30% of those who suffer from it (causing chagasic cardiomyopathy) and although it is a considerably low percentage due to the lack of information that exists today about the disease and the lack of opportunity to acquire treatment, it can tend to increase and the damage it causes may become irreversible.

In conclusion, there is a strong possibility that the different mutations suffered by the SCN5A gene in patients suffering from Chagas disease are the main responsible for the cardiac alterations presented by the sick people, so further studies will be carried out to corroborate this fact.

Dear readers, see you in the next issue. If you have something to share in relation to this topic, please leave your comments in the corresponding section.

Palmezano Díaz, Jorge Mario. (2014). Chagas disease: reality of a frequent pathology in Santander, Colombia.Source:

Cursack, Guillermo. (2019). Heart failure in chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy. Source:

Sosa Estani, Sergio. (2018). Publication XIV Workshop on Chagas Disease. Source: