A deadly tropical disease transmitted by blood-sucking "kissing bugs" has established itself in California and the Southern United States. Chagas disease, once considered a distant threat, now affects an estimated 300,000 people in the U.S., with California harboring the highest concentration at 70,000 to 100,000 cases.
"We had a kid from the Hollywood Hills who got it," Salvador Hernandez, a cardiologist with Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, told the LA Times. The disease often remains dormant for years before causing serious complications, including life-threatening heart problems.
Medical experts emphasize that early detection is crucial. "If we screened for it and caught it early, most patients could be cured," Hernandez said.
Norman Beatty, a medical epidemiologist at the University of Florida, added, "This is a disease that has been neglected and has been impacting Latin Americans for many decades. But it's also here in the United States."
Previously:
• New hope for a neglected disease
• What killed Charles Darwin?
• Income inequality turns 'neglected tropic diseases' into American diseases of 'the poor living among the wealthy'
