In Vitro Imaging of Trypanosoma cruzi Host Infection Systems for Evaluation of Compound Activity release_arcybsfz3zcohfl2jmuqejimoq

Abstract

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, is a leading cause of infectious myocarditis in the world and a major cause of morbiditiy and mortality in endemic areas, in Central and South America. The parasite is not limited to the human host and has a number of mammalian reservoirs. Besides the Triatominae vector, transmission can occur orally from contaminated food, congenital infection or blood and organ donations, meaning that the disease has also spread to non-endemic areas. There are two stages of Chagas disease, the acute and chronic stages. The acute stage may present as a non-specific febrile disease, however during the chronic phase, heart tissue becomes infected, and parasite persistence and autoimmunity results in heart disease, often causing mortality. The drugs used to treat Chagas disease have associated toxicity and in addition, there are doubts about their efficacy in treating the chronic disease. Currently there are few compounds that are clinical candidates for Chagas disease, it is therefore essential that new compounds that are active against T. cruzi are identified and evaluated for their potential to progress through the drug discovery pipeline.
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