Rapid test for Chagas' disease:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
South American researchers have developed an early test for Chagas' disease. The rapid, urine-based antibody test is reported in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology (August) by physicians from the University of S*o Paulo, Brazil and the Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The WHO says there are 1 million new cases of Chagas' disease (a trypanosomiasis transmitted by reduviid beetles) and 45,000 deaths every year in Central and South America. Infected individuals become progressively weaker over a period of 10-12 years and often die of heart failure.