Control de la enfermedad de chagas en Venezuela: Logros pasados y retos presentes

chagas disease is a "neglected disease" affecting millions of people in latin america. a review is made of the past successes and current challenges of the chagas disease control program in venezuela (pcech), and results of recent research are presented. officially implemented in the decade of 1960 with the aim of interrupting the intra-domestic transmission maintained by rhodnius prolixus, the pcech was mainly based on the large-scale use of insecticide spraying, the construction or improving of rural houses and the introduction of routine screening in public hospital blood banks for trypanosoma cruzi using the elisa test. after four decades, a drastic reduction of the prevalence of infection from 44.5% to 8.9% has been achieved. however, the pressure of house re-infestation by sylvan r. prolixus, and trends of domestication of other sylvan species, such as panstrongylus geniculatus, have given rise to new epidemiological scenarios that pose new challenges. because of this situation, re-examining how best to target monitoring and control efforts on scientific bases is of great urgency. additionally, efforts to improve health education and community participation for a more efficient epidemiological surveillance as well as medical attention to chagas patients, not undertaken in the past, are currently considered as a new and urgent priority of a comprehensive chagas disease control program policy in venezuela.