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Chagas' disease in pre‐Columbian South America
Author(s) -
Rothhammer Francisco,
Allison Marvin J.,
Núñez Lautaro,
Standen Vivien,
Arriaza Bernardo
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330680405
Subject(s) - triatoma infestans , triatominae , chagas disease , vector (molecular biology) , prehistory , triatoma , zoology , latin americans , reduviidae , geography , outbreak , biology , archaeology , ethnology , trypanosoma cruzi , virology , history , parasite hosting , hemiptera , genetics , law , world wide web , computer science , gene , political science , recombinant dna
Abstract The quest for the origin and dispersion of Chagas' disease, the second most important vector‐borne disease in Latin America, has epidemiological, immunological, and genetical implications. Conjectures based on accounts of chroniclers, reviews of the archaeological literature and the present distribution of triatomine bugs, the vectors of the disease, held that the origin of the adaptation of Triatoma infestans (aspecies of the subfamily Triatominae) to human dwellings occurred in prehistoric times. The autopsy of 35 mummies exhumed in the Chilean desert, dated between 470 B.C. and 600 A.D., revealed the presence of clinical manifestations of Chagas' disease and put earlier speculations on a factual basis.