Zeitschrift für Gemeinde- und öffentliche Gesundheitspflege

Abstrakt

Silent murderer: Chagas disease

José David Navarrete Santiago

Introduction: Chagas disease is the infection produced in man trypanosome cruzi; it is estimated that in the American continent there are 35,000,000 people infected and close to 100,000,000 people exposed to the infection, in Mexico the endemic areas are the Central and South States, having a predilection for rural places. The case-fatality rate in Mexico is currently unknown.

Material and methods: The objective of this work was to identify the lethality rate of Chagas disease through a retrospective study, taking as a period of time a lapse of 9 years from 2004 and 2013, taking the data used for this study. The General Directorate of Health Information (DGIS), all data obtained, were ordered by sex and suffering secondary to Chagas disease, 3 tables and 3 charts were made, one of morbidity, one of mortality and one showing the lethality rate of this condition.

Results: In men, morbidity, mortality and lethality showed a great predilection for chronic causes that affect the heart secondary to Chagas disease (morbidity: 235, Mortality: 168, case fatality rate: 71 per 100 patients diagnosed). In women it is shown that the same cause in both morbidity and mortality and in the case-fatality rate, continues to have the greatest prominence and importance (morbidity: 203, mortality: 132, case-fatality rate: 65 per 100 patients diagnosed). These results only highlight the importance of this condition in deaths due to acute myocardial infarction, in addition to demonstrating the health crisis that this means in our country, highlighting the strategic errors of the Mexican health system, calling for a new direction in the integral approach of this disease (prevention, diagnosis, treatment).