Overview

• A perspective in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal synthesizes U.S. evidence and urges hypoendemic/endemic recognition, though the CDC has not formally reclassified the disease.
• Triatomine vectors are documented in 32 states, and autochthonous human infections have been confirmed in eight states: Texas, California, Arizona, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas.
• The CDC estimates about 280,000 people in the U.S. have Chagas disease, often undiagnosed, and roughly 20–30% risk severe cardiac or digestive complications if untreated, with therapies most effective early.
• Texas A&M has logged about 10,000 kissing-bug reports across 31 states, with roughly half of a tested subset carrying T. cruzi, while wildlife and dogs serve as reservoirs and Los Angeles County now conducts testing.
• The U.S. is not listed by WHO as endemic and Chagas is not nationally notifiable, prompting calls for expanded surveillance, clinician training, targeted testing and vector-control efforts.