American Trypanosomiasis: Chagas Disease One Hundred Years of Research - Tapa blanda

Chagas disease causes severe socioeconomic impact and a high medical cost in Latin America. WHO and the World Bank consider Chagas disease as the fourth most transmittable disease to have a major impact on public health in Latin America: 120 million persons are potentially exposed, 16 to 18 million of whom are presently infected, causing 45,000 to 50,000 deaths per year. It has been calculated that approximately 2.4 million potential working years are lost because of incapacity and mortality due to the disease, for an annual cost estimated at 20 billion Euros. American Trypanosomiasis provides a comprehensive overview of Chagas disease and discusses the latest discoveries concerning the three elements that compose the transmission chain of the disease:

• The host: human and mammalian reservoirs
• The insect vectors: domestic and sylvatic vectors
• The causative parasite: Trypanosoma cruzi

• Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field
• Contributions from leading authorities and industry experts

She started her work in the area of parasitology in 1990 as university teacher assistant. Since then she has focused her research on the three components of Chagas disease, namely: the host, the vector and mainly the parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi).

She has worked in several countries in Latin America and Europe, (Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Belgium and France).

She has presently a permanent position of Research Engineer at the French “Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and she has been Dr Michel Tibayrenc’s collaborator for more than 17 years.

At present, she works at the Center of Research in health of Latin America "CISeAL", Quito-Nayon, Ecuador. Recent research deals with experimental evolution of T. cruzi, more specifically the parasite’s gene expression surveyed by proteomics analysis.