[Chagas disease: re-emergent or neglected]

Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease distributed throughout America, from southern United States to Argentina, mostly, in poor and rural areas of Central and South America. According to the latest estimates, there are 8 million people all over the world infected by the parasite and in 2008, 11000 deaths were registered. Currently, with the occurrence of internal migrations from rural areas to cities, the disease is changing the establishment of its epidemiological profile. Instead of an effective control or eradication, as consequences of the antichagasic campaign initiated in Venezuela 47 years ago, as many cases are emerging today, in some westerns states of the country, as those reported at the beginning of the last century. In addition, there is a considerable increase in the oral transmission of the disease, through neglect and the lack of sanitary controls in food processing. For these reasons, a monitoring system of rapid response must be implemented by the Venezuelan health system to control the disease.