Popular Media Piece

            Above is a 2014 Fox News segment about Chagas disease.  Like most things on the news, the video is overdramatized, superficial, and lacking crucial or even accurate information. 

            To start, reporters give off the impression that some new, terrifying disease is ravaging through America.  In reality, Chagas disease has been a problem for a long time, not to mention the fact that Chagas disease was a serious health issue decades ago before prevention programs were initiated by the World Health Organization and South American countries.

            The tagline and the comparisons made by the reporters greatly overdramatize the disease.  The tagline states “Researchers worry incurable disease is the ‘new AIDS of the Americas.’”  Chagas disease and AIDS have almost nothing in common apart form the fact that they both have asymptomatic phases and potentially fatal symptoms that occur later in life.  Based on those standards, a whole slew of diseases that have latent phases or no immediate symptoms are “the new AIDS.”  Prostate cancer fits that description better than Chagas does, with mortality rates and prevalence closer to that of AIDS than Chagas is.  Additionally, the pathology of the two diseases is completely different. AIDS is brought on by a virus, while Chagas is caused by parasites.  A large number of Chagas patients never experience symptoms, while AIDS commonly causes secondary complications.  The list goes on and on.

            The news clip did include an interview from a credible doctor, but most of the information came from a reporter.  The reporter doesn’t even give correct information.  He states that the disease is transmitted when a “blood sucking insect sends a parasite into your blood” through its bite.  This is not an accurate description of the transmission, as the parasites enter the host through wound contamination with feces.

            Instead of trying to scare people, the reporters should have mentioned how the morbidity rates in the U.S. are very low, the mortality rates are even lower, and that the disease is not easily passed from one person to another.  They mention how important it is to catch the infection fast, but they don’t mention the acute phase symptoms people should look for, or what population is most at risk.  Instead of talking about how prevention programs have greatly reduced incidence of the disease, they state that the disease is apparently “spreading at an alarming rate,” backing that up with no significant statistics.

            I never trust the news to give me accurate information, and this is just another example.

 Reference:

300,000 people in U.S. have Chagas disease as country unsure how to deal with growing threat. (2014, October 21). Fox Television Studios. Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/26849138/2014/10/21/300000-people-in-us-have-chagas-disease-as-country-unsure-how-to-deal-with-growing-threat