Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease have a lot in common: they are transmitted by vectors, insects and are considered neglected, that is, they affect the poorest population. Both are present in several regions of Brazil. Today’s Caminhos da Reportagem (10) travels to two Brazilian states – Mato Grosso and Pernambuco – to tell stories of those who live with these diseases. The program airs at 8 pm on TV Brasil.
According to Márcia Hueb, infectious disease specialist and professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), leishmaniasis is a non-contagious infectious disease. There is tegumentary leishmaniasis, which can cause skin and mucosal lesions; and visceral leishmaniasis, which affects the viscera and internal organs. “This is a disease that does not arouse the interest of the big industry, because it will not turn into profit. These are diseases that affect very impoverished, neglected populations.”
Retired Benedito Cambará was hospitalized for 20 days at the Júlio Müller University Hospital, in Cuiabá, due to leishmaniasis, which affected the mucosa of the mouth. A few days after he was discharged. The TV Brasil reporting team was at his house in Cáceres, more than three hours away from Cuiabá. It was the Monday time the retiree was treated for leishmaniasis. The first time, he stopped the medication and now, in the Mondaythe daughter, Aparecida, took charge of supervising the treatment.
Leishmaniasis is caused by the protozoan leishmania and transmitted by the bite of the female of an insect popularly known as the straw mosquito. Also transmitted by an insect, the barber, Chagas disease is considered the most Brazilian of tropical diseases. Transmission occurs through the barber’s feces deposited on the person’s skin, while the insect sucks blood. The bite causes itching, facilitating the entry of the trypanosome into the body, which can also occur through the mucosa of the eyes, nose and mouth or through wounds and recent cuts in the skin. Other more common forms of transmission are oral and vertical transmission through the placenta (mother to child).
Casa de Chagas, in Recife, Pernambuco, was the first fully dedicated to the treatment of Chagas Disease in the world. The institution is considered a reference in the country and every day receives, on average, 60 patients, who go for consultations, exams and the control of the pacemaker, used by many people with the disease. “Here at the clinic, there are currently 850 registered patients, and we can clearly see that the disease predominates in the less favored classes. This is also something that makes it difficult to treat these people, who often do not have access”, explains cardiologist Wilson de Oliveira, a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco.
Jadel Muller Kratz, Research and Development manager at DNDi, says that in the last 40 years less than 1% of the medicines produced in the world were for neglected tropical diseases, such as Chagas and Leishmaniasis. Still today there are few treatment options, and existing drugs are toxic, have many side effects, and are difficult to use in remote areas.
Retired Severina da Silva was bitten by a contaminated barber when she was still young. Today, at 91 years old, she has to live daily with medication for her heart, affected by Chagas Disease. Since the 1980s, she has been doing volunteer work at Casa de Chagas and helping other people who also have the disease. “I like to help and I feel good when I do anything for a person. I think I’m doing that for my own good, not for the good of the other, because if I feel happy, I’ll get better every day”.
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