Deadly Infection Poses Threat to Blood Supply

A parasite commonly found in South and Central America may pose a new threat to Canadian blood supply. The carrying bug causes a parasitic infection that can be spread by the transfusion of infected blood.

Through the bite site or through the mucus membrane of the eye or mouth, the parasite enters the bloodstream. This can actually be possible if people rub the bite and then go to rub their own face. Some people may get an acute infection with symptoms similar to flu and may notice swelling at the bite site or in the eyes -- but any further symptoms may not develop for decades.

"People who have this infection don't know about it and about 30 or 40 years later they suddenly go into heart failure or they have difficulty swallowing because the bowel is attacked and the bowel muscle doesn't function and they wind up in serious problems," Keystone said.

50,000 deaths every year in Central and South America can be attribued to the Chagas disease, which has also infected an estimated 20 million people in the same region. Between 1 in every 500 and 1 in a every 1,000 people from the area may be unknowingly carrying the infection in their blood.

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