Chagas disease is a deadly parasitic heart disease of dogs, humans, and other mammals. Chagas disease is a risk where ‘kissing bug’ insect vectors are located, including South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southern United States. The risk of Chagas disease in dogs also extends to regions where dogs from the south may travel or be re-located, so dogs across the US may be at risk. However, tools to prevent and manage canine Chagas cases are lacking as there is no vaccine and no widely-validated antiparasitic treatments. The investigators have spent the past 8 years characterizing how natural infections impact the health of dogs, and how disease progresses in the absence of treatment. Given this baseline information, the team will develop and refine a canine Chagas disease scoring system to categorize the severity of the disease (measured by a panel of sensitive diagnostic tests and clinical assessments). This scoring system is a critical prerequisite for deploying new treatments.

The investigators will then treat 100 dogs with a modified dosing regimen of benznidazole. In preliminary studies, this dosing protocol achieved a high success in curing dogs of the parasitic infection while also improving their clinical status. The team will specifically enroll dogs in different stages of disease (asymptomatic dogs; dogs with mild disease; dogs with severe disease) to draw conclusions on which dogs will benefit most from treatment. Given the team’s expertise in epidemiology, cardiology, and parasitology, and their foundation of work with Chagas -infected dogs, they are uniquely qualified to carry out this study to provide tools to help dogs while also advancing the One Health initiative.