%0 Journal Article
%T Therapy of Chagas Disease: Implications for Levels of Prevention
%A Sergio Sosa-Estani
%A Lisandro Colantonio
%A Elsa Leonor Segura
%J Journal of Tropical Medicine
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/292138
%X This paper reviews the evidence supporting the use of etiological treatment for Chagas disease that has changed the standard of care for patients with Trypanosoma cruzi infection in the last decades. Implications of this evidence on different levels of prevention as well as gaps in current knowledge are also discussed. In this regard, etiological treatment has shown to be beneficial as an intervention for secondary prevention to successfully cure the infection or to delay, reduce, or prevent the progression to disease, and as primary disease prevention by breaking the chain of transmission. Timely diagnosis during initial stages would allow for the prescription of appropriate therapies mainly in the primary health care system thus improving chances for a better quality of life. Based on current evidence, etiological treatment has to be considered as an essential public health strategy useful to reduce disease burden and to eliminate Chagas disease altogether. 1. Introduction One hundred years after Carlos Chagas identified and described the Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infection, there are still millions of infected people and thousands of newly diagnosed cases each year with Chagas disease (CD). The scientific community has intermittently increased the knowledge and understanding of how to manage patients with acute and chronic CD [1]. Nonetheless, much more research is still needed in order to improve care and answer many unknown questions regarding this debilitating and widespread disease, which has been estimated to affect about 8 million chronically infected people just in the Americas [2]. The goal of etiological treatment against Chagas disease is to eliminate the parasite (T. cruzi) from the infected individual, to decrease the probability of developing clinical manifestations of the disease (e.g., cardiovascular or digestive diseases), and to break the chain of disease transmission [3]. Currently, there is a new scenario regarding the recommended etiological treatment against T. cruzi infection. It is based on several strong evidences supported by basic research, clinical trials, observational studies, and expert opinions. In this paper, we review the current evidence supporting etiological Chagas disease therapy organized according to different levels of prevention. Additionally, we discuss the tools available to demonstrate cure in these patients, and the need for further research required to improve care for T. cruzi infected people. 2. Materials and Methods We reviewed the evidence supporting the use of anti-T. cruzi pharmacotherapy
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtm/2012/292138/