Can you donate blood if you have Chagas disease?

If you have ever been diagnosed with Chagas disease, you cannot donate blood.

What disease Cannot donate blood?

Sever lung disease. Hepatitis B and C. HIV infection, AIDS or Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) High risk occupation (e.g. prostitution)

Is Chagas disease lifelong?

Chagas disease has an acute and a chronic phase. If untreated, infection is lifelong.

Can you get rid of Chagas disease?

Once Chagas disease reaches the chronic phase, medications won't cure the disease. But, the drugs may be offered to people younger than age 50 because they may help slow the progression of the disease and its most serious complications.

How long do you have to treat Chagas disease?

Treatment for Chagas disease includes taking an antiparasitic medicine for up to 2 months.

KILLER DISEASES | How Chagas Disease Affects the Body

Does Chagas affect the brain?

The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) during human acute and chronic Chagas disease (CD) has been largely reported. Meningoencephalitis is a frequent finding during the acute infection, while during chronic phase the CNS involvement is often accompanied by behavioral and cognitive impairments.

Can Chagas disease be detected by blood test?

The diagnosis of Chagas disease can be made by observation of the parasite in a blood smear by microscopic examination. A thick and thin blood smear are made and stained for visualization of parasites.

How rare is Chagas disease?

Chagas disease is common in parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America where an estimated 8 million people are infected.

What are the long term effects of Chagas disease?

Left untreated, Chagas disease later can cause serious heart and digestive problems. During the acute phase of infection, treatment of Chagas disease focuses on killing the parasite. In people who have chronic Chagas disease, it's no longer possible to kill the parasite.

How serious is Chagas disease?

Chagas disease can cause both sudden (acute) and long-term (chronic) symptoms. People can be infected for a long time without showing symptoms. Without treatment, serious complications, including heart and intestinal tract problems, are possible. Chagas disease is curable if treated soon after infection.

Who is the most common victim of Chagas?

People who have Chagas disease can be found anywhere in the world. However, transmission of the disease by kissing bugs (vectorborne transmission), only occurs in the Americas. Most people with Chagas disease became infected in rural areas of Mexico, Central America, and South America.

Is Chagas disease an STD?

Conclusions: Evidence that Chagas disease can be transmitted sexually, coupled with the migration of individuals with Chagas disease to previously non-endemic countries and increased travel to endemic countries, has implications for public health.

How common is Chagas disease in USA?

More than 5 million people worldwide have Chagas disease. In the United States, there are estimated to be at least 300,000 cases of chronic Chagas disease among people originally from countries of Latin America where Chagas disease is endemic.

Why would blood donation be rejected?

Other reasons you may not be able to donate blood: You've experienced hepatitis or jaundice in the last year. You've had certain types of cancer, or are being treated for cancer. Blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease disqualify you from donating, to protect both donor and recipient.

Which people should not be blood donors?

What is the rarest blood type?

What's the rarest blood type? AB negative is the rarest of the eight main blood types - just 1% of our donors have it. Despite being rare, demand for AB negative blood is low and we don't struggle to find donors with AB negative blood. However, some blood types are both rare and in demand.

What organ system does Chagas disease affect?

Chagas disease is an infectious disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. The disease mainly affects the nervous system, digestive system and heart.

What are the neurological symptoms of Chagas disease?

In the chronic phase, it presents as neuritis that results in altered tendon reflexes and sensory impairment, and is reported in up to 10% of the patients. Isolated cases of central nervous system involvement can also include dementia, confusion, chronic encephalopathy and sensitive and motor deficits.

What does Chagas do to the heart?

Chagas cardiomyopathy represents the most frequent and serious complication of chronic Chagas disease, affecting about 20-30% of patients, potentially leading to heart failure, arrhythmias, thromboembolism, stroke and sudden death.

How do you get diagnosed with Chagas?

Blood smear is the most common method of identifying acute Chagas disease and is commercially available. PCR testing is the most sensitive option to detect early acute-phase Chagas disease and can be ordered through the CDC.

Who is most at risk for Chagas?

Some of the risk factors associated with Chagas disease include living in geographic areas with warm and humid weather, poor hygiene, living conditions related to poverty, and the presence of animals living inside the houses.

Why is Chagas a silent disease?

Chagas disease is prevalent among poor populations of continental Latin America but is increasingly being detected in other countries and continents. It is often termed as a “silent and silenced disease” as the infected majority have no symptoms or extremely mild symptom.

Is Chagas disease autoimmune?

In fact, the first evidence of autoimmunity in CD was presented by Cossio and collaborators in 1974 (61), who reported antibodies in sera of chagasic patients that reacted with endocardium, interstitium, and heart blood vessels but were absent in healthy individuals and in patients with non-chagasic cardiomyopathy.

How much is a Chagas test?

Results: The cost of Chagas' disease test in the blood bank of Seccional Bolívar was COP$ 37,804 (USD$ 12), and the blood bag and immunohematology test costs were COP$ 25,941 (USD$ 8.2) and COP$ 6,800 (USD$ 2.2), respectively.

What type of drug would you use to treat Chagas?

The two drugs used to treat infection with T. cruzi are nifurtimox and benznidazole. Benznidazole is approved by FDA for use in children 2–12 years of age and is available from www.benznidazoletablets.com .