Bolivia

Thousands of people with Chagas disease will go untreated in coming months due to a shortage of benznidazole, the first-line drug used in most endemic countries.

This crisis could have been prevented but the major player involved, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, has shirked its responsibilities and is evidently unwilling to overcome the various challenges. 

Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a parasitic disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) and is transmitted mainly by insects called triatomines, also known as ‘assassin bugs’ or ‘kissing bugs’. It is endemic in 21 Latin American countries and cases have also been reported in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Recently, Chagas projects have seen their treatment capacities limited due to a shortage in benznidazole, a first-line drug manufactured by only one laboratory in Brazil. 

Primarily affecting poor people throughout Central and South America, an estimated 14 million people have Chagas disease, and about 15,000 die from it every year.

Millions of people are infected with Chagas disease yet they do not know. They can die in silence, without asking for help, without knowing why. It's time to act: diagnose and treat now!

CNN's Vital Signs visits with an MSF team in Bolivia on the trail of this neglected killer disease.

Nearly 12,000 people, mostly women and children, are in need of urgent assistance last week after torrential rains flooded the town of Trinidad, in Bolivia's north central province of Beni.