CHAGAS DISEASE: AN EMERGING FATAL DISEASE IN TEXAS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The goals of this project are to generate tools and population resources for research on Chagas disease in human subjects and nonhuman primate models. Chagas disease affects 16-18 million people in Latin America, where it is the most prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality from heart disease. Chagas disease is an emerging disease in the US. Nonhuman primates housed in outdoor caging in southern US are naturally exposed to the insects that carry the disease-causing parasite and 2-10% of animals at the SNPRC are infected (percentage dependent on species). The grant provides bridge funding for an NIH grant on the genetics of Chagas disease in a human population in rural Brazil. It also funds the establishment of sensitive PCR diagnostic methods, the genetic characterization of the parasites endemic to Texas, the determination of feasibility of transporting infected blood from human subjects in Brazil to Texas for diagnostic work on the parasites, and assessment of disease progression by determining pathology in hearts from infected monkeys that die spontaneously or are euthanized for health reasons.