Editing Chagas disease (section)

==History==
[[File:Carlos Chagas.png|thumb|alt=Black and white photo of Charlos Chagas, in his lab coat, sitting next to his microscope and surrounded by flasks and jars|[[Carlos Chagas]], in his laboratory at [[Oswaldo Cruz Foundation|Instituto Oswaldo Cruz]]]]

''T. cruzi'' likely circulated in South American mammals long before the arrival of humans on the continent.<ref name="Steverding2014"/> {{nowrap|''T. cruzi''}} has been detected in ancient human remains across South America, from a 9000-year-old [[Chinchorro mummy]] in the [[Atacama Desert]], to remains of various ages in [[Minas Gerais]], to an 1100-year-old mummy as far north as the [[Chihuahuan Desert]] near the [[Rio Grande]].<ref name="Steverding2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Steverding D | title = The history of Chagas disease | journal = Parasites & Vectors | volume = 7 | pages = 317 | date = July 2014 | pmid = 25011546 | pmc = 4105117 | doi = 10.1186/1756-3305-7-317 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Many early written accounts describe symptoms consistent with Chagas disease, with early descriptions of the disease sometimes attributed to [[Miguel Diaz Pimenta]] (1707), {{ill|Luís Gomes Ferreira|pt}} (1735), and [[Theodoro J. H. Langgaard]] (1842).<ref name = "Steverding2014" />

The formal description of Chagas disease was made by [[Carlos Chagas]] in 1909 after examining a two-year-old girl with fever, swollen lymph nodes, and an enlarged spleen and liver.<ref name="Steverding2014"/> Upon examination of her blood, Chagas saw trypanosomes identical to those he had recently identified from the [[hindgut]] of triatomine bugs and named ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' in honor of his mentor, Brazilian physician [[Oswaldo Cruz]].<ref name="Steverding2014"/> He sent infected triatomine bugs to Cruz in [[Rio de Janeiro]], who showed the bite of the infected triatomine could transmit {{nowrap|''T. cruzi''}} to [[marmoset monkey]]s as well.<ref name="Steverding2014"/> In just two years, 1908 and 1909, Chagas published descriptions of the disease, the organism that caused it, and the insect vector required for infection.<ref name=Kropf2009>{{cite journal |journal=Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos |date=July 2009 |volume=16 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=13–34 |title=The discovery of ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' and Chagas disease (1908–1909): tropical medicine in Brazil |vauthors=Kropf SP, Sá MR |pmid=20027916 |doi=10.1590/s0104-59702009000500002|s2cid=36106351 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Chagas_1909">{{cite journal |vauthors=Chagas C | title=Neue Trypanosomen |journal=Vorläufige Mitteilung Arch Schiff Tropenhyg |year=1909 |volume=13 |pages = 120–2 }}</ref><ref name="Chagas_1909b">{{cite journal |vauthors=Chagas C |title=Nova tripanozomiase humana: Estudos sobre a morfolojia e o ciclo evolutivo do Schizotrypanum cruzi n. gen., n. sp., ajente etiolojico de nova entidade morbida do homem [New human trypanosomiasis. Studies about the morphology and life-cycle of ''Schizotripanum cruzi'', etiological agent of a new morbid entity of man] |journal=Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz |year=1909 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=159–218 |issn=0074-0276 |doi=10.1590/S0074-02761909000200008 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/150058 |doi-access=free }} (in Portuguese with German full translation as "Ueber eine neue Trypanosomiasis des Menschen.")</ref> Almost immediately thereafter, at the suggestion of [[Miguel Couto]], then professor of the {{ill|Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro|pt}}, the disease was widely referred to as "Chagas disease".<ref name=Kropf2009/> Chagas' discovery brought him national and international renown, but in highlighting the inadequacies of the Brazilian government's response to the disease, Chagas attracted criticism to himself and to the disease that bore his name, stifling research on his discovery and likely [[Nobel Prize controversies#Physiology or medicine|frustrating his nomination]] for the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] in 1921.<ref name=Kropf2009/><ref>{{cite journal|title=Justice where justice is due: A posthumous Nobel Prize to Carlos Chagas (1879–1934), the discoverer of American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas' disease) |vauthors=Bestetti RB, Martins CA, Cardinalli-Neto A |journal=International Journal of Cardiology |volume=134 |issue=1 |date=May 2009 |pages=9–16 |doi=10.1016/j.ijcard.2008.12.197|pmid=19185367 }}</ref>

In the 1930s, [[Salvador Mazza]] rekindled Chagas disease research, describing over a thousand cases in Argentina's [[Chaco Province]].<ref name="Steverding2014"/> In Argentina, the disease is known as ''mal de Chagas-Mazza'' in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drwebsa.com.ar/alcha/hist4.htm |publisher=Asociación Lucha Contra el Mal de Chagas |title=Enfermedad de Chagas&nbsp;– Mazza |language=es |access-date=15 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916130857/http://www.drwebsa.com.ar/alcha/hist4.htm |archive-date=16 September 2011}}</ref> Serological tests for Chagas disease were introduced in the 1940s, demonstrating that infection with {{nowrap|''T. cruzi''}} was widespread across Latin America.<ref name="Steverding2014"/> This, combined with successes eliminating the malaria vector through insecticide use, spurred the creation of public health campaigns focused on treating houses with insecticides to eradicate triatomine bugs.<ref name=Cueto2015/><ref name="Steverding2014"/> The 1950s saw the discovery that treating blood with [[crystal violet]] could eradicate the parasite, leading to its widespread use in transfusion screening programs in Latin America.<ref name="Steverding2014"/> Large-scale control programs began to take form in the 1960s, first in [[São Paulo]], then various locations in Argentina, then national-level programs across Latin America.<ref name=Dias2015>{{cite journal|title=Evolution of Chagas disease screening programs and control programs |vauthors=((Dias JCP)) |journal=Global Heart |volume=10 |issue=3 |date=September 2015 |pages=193–202 |doi=10.1016/j.gheart.2015.06.003|pmid=26407516 }}</ref> These programs received a major boost in the 1980s with the introduction of pyrethroid insecticides, which did not leave stains or odors after application and were longer-lasting and more cost-effective.<ref name=Steverding2014/><ref name=Dias2015/> Regional bodies dedicated to controlling Chagas disease arose through support of the [[Pan American Health Organization]], with the Initiative of the Southern Cone for the Elimination of Chagas Diseases launching in 1991, followed by the Initiative of the Andean countries (1997), Initiative of the Central American countries (1997), and the Initiative of the Amazon countries (2004).<ref name=Cueto2015/>