Interesting story by Brian (NOT TO OVERSHADOW THE POST BEFORE W/PICS OF SERRA’S 1st DAY OF KINDERGARTEN! SCROLL DOWN FOR PROOF!); A few weeks ago, just prior to the Wind Rivers backpacking trip, a boy in our ward had organized a blood drive for his Eagle project. Wanting to support the kid I happily went in to give my pint and be on my way. Thinking nothing of it until a couple weeks later when a letter arrived from the blood bank notifying me that I’d tested postive for a blood parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi.
I was a little shocked as I’d never really been out of the country (other than a quick trip and taxi ride in Tijuana) and the riskiest thing I’d ever eaten was a bean burrito at the local taco shop or roach coach. I was a bit incredulous at first assuming they must have made a mistake and upon reading the information sheet they’d included in the letter I was sure there was some kind of error. Apparently the parasite causes “Chagas Disease” in humans….Here’s some of the information they gave me;
Chagas disease is not transmitted from person-to-person like a cold or the flu or through casual contact.
People can become infected in various ways. In Chagas-endemic areas (Central and Latin America), the main way is through vectorborne transmission. The insect vectors are called triatomine bugs. These blood-sucking bugs get infected by biting an infected animal or person. Once infected, the bugs pass T. cruzi parasites in their feces. The bugs are found in houses made from materials such as mud, adobe, straw, and palm thatch. During the day, the bugs hide in crevices in the walls and roofs. During the night, when the inhabitants are sleeping, the bugs emerge. Because they tend to feed on people’s faces, triatomine bugs are also known as “kissing bugs.” After they bite and ingest blood, they defecate on the person. The person can become infected if T. cruzi parasites in the bug feces enter the body through mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. The unsuspecting, sleeping person may accidentally scratch or rub the feces into the bite wound, eyes, or mouth.
People also can become infected through:
- consumption of uncooked food contaminated with feces from infected bugs;
- congenital transmission (from a pregnant woman to her baby);
- blood transfusion;
- organ transplantation; and
- accidental laboratory exposure.
After reading that I was kind of freaking out wondering how in the world I came in contact with some bug that lives in adobe/thatch huts in Latin America. There’s no way I contracted it eating tacos at Robertos, I’ve never had a blood transfusion as far as I know, and my Mom has never been out of the country either. WEIRD! The sheet also went in to some detail on the “symptoms” of people with Chagas and it sounded pretty bad…enlarged hearts, heart failure, enlarged esophugus, and my personal favorite “Mega-colon”. Well zipededooda!!
I called the included phone number to the “Blood Counseler” to discuss my positive test. The counseler didn’t give me much info other than that I should schedule another follow up test and that they wanted me to participate in a nationwide study with people who’d tested postive. She assured me I didn’t fit the profile but “she’d seen stranger things”. Another tidbit she shared was that even if follow up tests proved it was a “false-positive” that the FDA doesn’t recognize the follow up test as valid. What that means is that they’ll have me on the records as having it and I can’t give blood again till they recognized the tests.
Anyhow, I scheduled the follow up test and agreed to participate in the study. They paid me $25 for agreeing to participate and I was a minor celebrity at the blood place when I showed up to get the blood drawn. Apparently it’s not a real common thing. They told me they’d call me ONLY if the test was positive and that I should hear in a couple of weeks. The month that followed had me doing research projects on the disease and wracking my brain as to how in the world I could have gotten it. I went as far as to question my Mom as to whether she’d ever gone on any wild and crazy parties to Mexico prior to my birth and hadn’t told anyone…she denied it. Well after a month I felt like I was in the clear since I hadn’t heard but I called them anyway to see what the scoop was. The counseler informed me that they still hadn’t received results back which wasn’t what I wanted to hear. They told me that there were some people who’d been tested as far back as March who hadn’t heard. I was disappointed that I wasn’t cleared but figured I’d just forget about it and learn my fate sometime around Christmas.
On Friday I got a call from Pam that the blood people had called looking for my cell phone number. I had a call from an “unknown number” but they didn’t leave a message and I didn’t have the number to the counseler handy so I wasn’t able to call them back right away. I was a little disturbed that they were calling me as a call meant a positive result but was hoping that they were calling me to follow up on my call the other day. I spent the weekend thinking about little bugs coursing through my bloodstream.
Today, Monday, I took the counselers phone number with me and called them first thing. They transferred me to several different people, which made me think they were going to give me bad news, but eventually the lady I’d been talking to came on to let me know that the follow up tests had been negative. I didn’t have the parasite afterall. Yipee! Unfortunately I’m still branded by the FDA and banned from giving blood but at least my face didn’t get pooped on by a bug from a mud hut. That, and my Mom was vindicated from any wrong-doing.
