– More than 4 million dogs in the U.S. get infected with Chagas disease each year, including nearly 650,000 in Texas alone. Still, many people have never heard of it.
Dr. Roy Madigan, medical director for the Animal Hospital of Smithson Valley, is the principal scientist for the Canine Chagas Treatment Study at Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland. Humans can get Chagas too. Dr. Madigan emphasizes that while humans can’t get Chagas from their pet, owners must get tested if their pet tests positive.Humans can get Chagas by being bitten by an infected kissing bug, through a blood or organ transplant, or by consuming uncooked food contaminated with feces from infected bugs. The disease can also be transferred from pregnant woman to baby.
The test is a blood test that currently takes seven days to get results, but labs are currently working to release a test next year that vets can run at the clinic and get results in 15 minutes.