Help for Dogs with Chagas Disease

Vida Pharmacal announced the first cure for canine Chagas disease, also called American Trypanosomiasis, which is a zoonotic disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoal parasite spread by bloodsucking insects (kissing bugs).

The disease, which causes heart failure and death, has long been common in Latin America, although it has recently been identified in the Southern United States. The results of a multicenter field study, which were published in August in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, detailed a treatment protocol that significantly increased improvement of symptoms and ability to survive infection with the disease.

Top photograph: Getty Images

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