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Chagas disease microbiome

Trypanosoma cruzi causes cardiac and digestive manifestations. Moreover, an association with digestive symptom severity and diet has been postulated. T. cruzi infects and persists in intestinal tissues, but the impact of T. cruzi infection on the gut microbiome has yet to be characterized.The goal of this study is to determine changes in the fecal microbiome and metabolome associated with T. cruzi intestinal parasite burden. We study Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi parasites. Chagas Disease is classified as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) by the NIH and WHO. This is because it primarily affects the rural poor in resource poor areas. There is therefore no economic incentive for the pharmaceutical industry to be involved in research or therapeutic development. Our goal is to understand the factors that determine infection outcome, disease progression and response to therapy. Symptomatic Chagas disease is associated with cardiomyopathy leading to heart failure, alone or in combination with megacolon and megaoesophagus. Over five million people are currently infected, with a mortality rate of 12,000/year. This parasite is endemic to Latin America, where 13% of the population is at risk of infection. In addition, there are up to a million T. cruzi-infected individuals in the United States, a large number of which live in Southern California. Most of these cases are due to emigration of infected individuals, but autochthonous transmission has also been reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and California.

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