A Neglected Infection of Poverty

Dr. Sheba Meymandi discusses her attempts to raise Chagas awareness.

Developing World's Parasites, Disease Hits US

The Wall Street Journal

Stephanie Simon and Betsy McKay

22 August 2009

To complement some other posts focusing on the issue of Chagas in a broader sense, here's a story of the disease through the eyes of one woman doctor battling the disease in poor communities in California.

Dr. Sheba Meymandi, a physician who runs the first Chagas clinic opened in the U.S., has committed her life to improving health in underserved communities where Chagas disease runs rampant. One weekend per month, Dr. Meymandi travels by car to impoverished Latino communities near the LA clinic and uses churches as makeshift clinics in order to test and treat patients for Chagas.

One of her biggest challenges is convincing people to get tested, as many don’t care to be tested for an “exotic” disease. Another problem is the bad reputation of the treatment regimen; the treatment therapy is associated with a slew of unfortunate side effects including memory loss and lack of sensation in the limbs. Many illegal immigrants are also unwilling to obtain treatment because they don’t want to draw attention to themselves.

Dr. Meymandi asserts that Chagas should no longer be considered an exotic disease, as it is highly prevalent particularly in shanty towns lining the U.S.-Mexico border where overcrowding, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and much animal-to-human contact are present. Poor drainage systems are cesspools for breeding of Chagas bugs, and a lack of window screens allows for easy transmission to humans.

Raising awareness of the disease burden has become a major goal, and already health care legislation is pending for a full report to congress on Chagas along with several other diseases dubbed (very appropriately) “neglected infections of poverty”. This article and video gives us another look at issues raised in many other posts in this blog regarding the social causes of Chagas, the extremely poverty associated with Chagas, and public's lack of knowledge on the issue of Chagas. Yet examining the issue through the eyes of one doctor who has made battling Chagas her life's work gives us insight that we can't see in other news reports. We can use the issue of Chagas as a lens through which we can view broader controversies in society, such as debates about healthcare and the health and human rights (or lack therof) in illegal immigrant populations in the United States. Decisions made on these broader issues will greatly influence the future impact of Chagas disease in the U.S.

Find the article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12

5090339313750961.html