Significance of a neglected tropical disease: lessons from a paradigmatic case of ‘success in translation’

Abstract

In a previous publication, I stressed the fundamental importance of research for improving health using as an example the control of Chagas disease in the Americas. ⁽¹⁾ For that purpose, I analysed the major scientific breakthroughs and public health events from the 1909 discovery of Chagas disease and its causative pathogen, Trypanosoma cruzi, by Carlos Chagas, ⁽²⁾ through the successful control of its transmission by insect vectors in large regions of the Southern Cone countries in the 90s. ⁽³⁾ In the twenty years since that publication, Brazil and Latin American countries had to cope with a number of serious public health threats, old and new: (i) recrudescence of well-known diseases, such as dengue and yellow fever; (ii) emergence of viral diseases that had been restricted to other continents (Zika, Chikungunya); (iii) new epidemics (H1N1) or (iv) pandemics (COVID-19). Are there still some lessons from that success story against a neglected disease of the 90s that would be relevant today in the context of these recent challenges?