The number of parents infected with Chagas' disease increased to 13 after taking contaminated juice | Tocantins

Nine people are treated at the Palmas General Hospital (HGP) and four at the Araguaína Tropical Disease Hospital.

A family member of the patients, who asked not to be identified, took care of the 76-year-old father in the health care clinic. She fears that he is the 14th victim. "He has been hospitalized since Monday, he can not walk, his stomach is very swollen, his feet are swollen, he has the same symptoms, it could be the same because he also ingested the drink," he said. he declared.

Tocantins had already registered two cases of the disease in 2018. In the past three years, at least 34 people have been diagnosed with Chagas disease in the state.

Chagas disease is silent and symptoms appear over the years, including heart failure and gastrointestinal problems. The treatment is palliative, but the disease has no cure.

Most cases are by direct transmission and at night when the person is asleep. The insect bite does not hurt because it has an anesthetic component that prevents the victim from feeling. She will only notice it after a while, when she will notice an itchiness because of the irritation of the place.

Family members were infected with the disease after ingesting a contaminated juice at a party in Aparecida do Rio Negro, 70 km from Palmas.

The husband of one of the infected people, who asked not to be identified, said his party was the day of the second round of the October 28 general election. Most of the infected people do not live in Aparecida do Rio Negro and were gathered because they voted in the city.

The juice was made from bacaba, a sort of Amazonian palm tree. The main transmitter of the disease is the Barbeiro beetle. It is suspected that he was lodged in the tree and that his stool stopped in the juice.