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Acai can "cause" Chagas disease
Analysis points to the consumption of fruit contaminated during processing
23/11/2009 - 10:45
This year alone there have been, in Para, 180 cases of Chagas disease. It seems that this outbreak is related to consumption of contaminated açaí that is produced and distributed within the metropolitan area of the capital. The prosecution follows the laboratory to make the diagnosis.
Apparently the lack of hygiene is the cause of this public health problem in the region. In other words: Chagas' disease attacks the digestive tract and can cause inflammation in the heart and brain. In general, the barber infected by parasites transmitted disease through feces.
In the case of açaí, she takes orally. According to the Instituto Evandro Chagas, Pará, the insect is crushed along with acai on machines that separate the pulp from the seed. And the person ends up eating the contaminated fruit. Detail: freeze the pulp does not eliminate the parasite, says the State Department of Health This risk is not eliminated by pasteurization, says the institute.
Interesting. Chagas had previously been associated with contaminated cane juice, now acai juice. This really highlights the general risk from consumption of raw juice, especially if it is processed in a careless manner.
Posted by Tonka:
A Brazilian town has an outbreak of Chagas disease, the government of the northern province of Amazonas said Monday. Twelve people, including four children, were infected in the municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro after eating "acai" – a kind of food produced from palm tree, said Evandro Melo, a provincial official. Melo said the cases were diagnosed on Jan. 4. Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic condition transmitted by blood-sucking assassin bugs. In 2007, Amazonas province also had reported an outbreak of Chagas disease because of acai, registering 46 cases without deaths.
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