Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is found in twenty-one countries in the Americas, including the United States, where it has become endemic.
In the U.S., blood-sucking insects occur naturally in the southern half of the country and, as of September 2025, have been identified in 32 states.
The state of Texas has undertaken extensive efforts to document human Chagas disease cases that were made reportable in 2013. The first known autochthonous case of human Chagas disease in the U.S. occurred in an infant in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1955, in a home infested with triatomines.
According to the U.S. CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases (Volume 31, Number 9—September 2025), in this Perspective, researchers review a body of evidence establishing the robust presence of T. cruzi parasites in the U.S., not only among insect vectors, wildlife, and domestic animals but also among humans without travel histories who are assumed to be locally infected.
After feeding, these bugs pass the parasite in their feces. If the feces enter a person's body through a cut or near the eyes or mouth, it can cause infection.
These researchers wrote, 'Updating Chagas disease endemicity status as hypoendemic is a crucial step toward a more effective management model, one that addresses the unique challenges and complexities of this country regarding vector-borne diseases.'
'Such a shift will help reform curriculum in professional schools to enable the next generation of practitioners to be competent in recognizing the low but present risk for locally acquired T. cruzi infections and better serve those who acquire the parasite elsewhere and require diagnosis in the U.S.'
A Viewpoint published by The Lancet in May 2025 wrote that, despite many studies, there is still no vaccine for Chagas Disease.
To make matters worse for those infected, the only two drugs available have proved efficacy only when administered during the acute phase of the disease.
