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Chagas Disease: Neurology and Neurobiology

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Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions of the Nervous System

Abstract

Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis, caused by the intracellular protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is characterized by (1) a systemic acute phase with, in the most severe cases, myocarditis and/or meningoencephalitis that can be fatal, especially in infants; (2) a chronic phase, with an indeterminate (asymptomatic) form, a cardiac form, a digestive form (with megaesophagus and/or megacolon), and a mixed form combining the cardiac and digestive forms. Concerning nervous system damage, in the chronic phase the peripheral nervous system and especially the autonomic nervous system are involved, with denervation of the heart and gastrointestinal tract. T. cruzi brain infections, which attack glial cells, represent an increasing problem during immunosuppressive therapies and diseases, especially after the emergence of HIV-AIDS. Disease pathogenesis, and in particular mechanisms by which parasite-derived molecules and the host immune response interact with neurons that innervate the heart and the gastrointestinal tract remain to be clarified and deserve an engagement of the neuroscience community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fiocruz, Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    José Rodrigues Coura (Emeritus Professor)

  2. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    José Rodrigues Coura (Emeritus Professor)

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  1. José Rodrigues Coura
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Correspondence to José Rodrigues Coura .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Verona, Italy

    Marina Bentivoglio

  2. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina/Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM/UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Esper A. Cavalheiro

  3. Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Krister Kristensson

  4. Department of Physiology School of MedicineCollege of Health Science, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

    Nilesh B. Patel

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Coura, J.R. (2014). Chagas Disease: Neurology and Neurobiology. In: Bentivoglio, M., Cavalheiro, E., Kristensson, K., Patel, N. (eds) Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions of the Nervous System. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8100-3_11

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