Progress towards the interruption of transmission of Chagas disease in Latin America

The epidemiological and entomological data and the trends observed in the decreasing of the incidence of infection in young age groups indicate that only ninety years after the discovery of Chagas disease, the control of vectorial and transfusional transmission has reduced the incidence by 70% in the Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay). This has been accomplished thanks to the political and financial engagement of the concerned governments who have invested US$ 340 millions since 1991 to the present. The initiatives to interrupt transmission of Chagas in the Andean countries and the Central American countries have begun their activities in 1997 and the evolution of the control operations allows to forecast the complete interruption in these areas before the year 2010 to comply with the mandate of Resolution WHA. 52.14 of the World Health Assembly in May 1998.