A Novel Evolutionary Algorithm
Introduction
The protozoan parasite , Trypanosoma cruzi , causes Chagas disease and is primarily spread via blood feeding insects in the order Hemiptera , family Reduviidae , and subfamily Triatominae ( WHO , 2002 ). While the primary vector food source is vertebrates , Trypanosoma cruzi only infects mammals ( Rassi , Rassi , & Marin-Neto , 2010 ). Human impacts , such as deforestation for agrarian land use , have caused triatomines to adapt ( Coura , 2008 ); and one of the main vectors of Chagas disease , Triatoma dimidiata , has adapted to human domestic and peridomestic environments ( Waleckx , Gourbière , & Dumonteil , 2015 ). This vector is endemic to Guatemala and researchers find it in Mexico all the way south to parts of Peru , Ecuador , Colombia , and Venezuela ( WHO , 2002 ). People with Chagas disease often live in remote areas with poor sanitation , low socioeconomic status , and work manual labor jobs ( Briceño-León & Méndez Galván , 2007 ; Prata , 2001 ). Approximately 70 million people in Latin America are at risk of infection with Trypanosoma cruzi and ~ 5.7 million people are infected ( Chagas , 2015 ). In Central America , Guatemala has the largest number of vector transmitted cases ( e . g ., ~ 1,275 in 2010 ) ( Chagas , 2015 ). Furthermore , Guatemala , El Salvador , and Honduras combined account for 85 % of the new cases in Central America ( Chagas , 2015 ). Chagas disease has an estimated disability-adjusted life years ( DALY ) of 546,000 ( 271,000 – 1,054,000 ) and is the second largest proportion of DALY for neglected tropical diseases in central Latin America , after hookworm disease ( Murray et al ., 2012 ). The estimated annual healthcare cost per Chagas patient in Latin America is ~$ 383 ( range $ 207 –$ 636 ); and the total annual cost to society ( i . e ., healthcare plus productivity losses ) per chronic Chagas disease patient in Latin America is ~$ 4,059 ( range $ 3,569 –$ 4,434 ) ( Lee , Bacon , Bottazzi , & Hotez , 2013 ). Thus , the disease burden of Chagas disease exceeds other infectious diseases such as cholera and rotavirus ( Lee et al ., 2013 ).
Humans infected with Trypanosoma cruzi can acquire Chagas disease by the transmission of the Trypanosoma cruzi-infected feces into the bite or open wound , or through the mucosa of the eye , nose , or mouth ( Prata , 2001 ; Rassi et al ., 2010 ; Teixeira , Nitz , Guimaro , Gomes , & Santos-Buch , 2006 ). Another possible source is via consumption of the infected feces in food items such as juice , vegetables , and possibly wild meat ( Rueda , Trujillo , Carranza , & Vallejo , 2014 ). Oral transmission is believed to be the primary source of infection for wild animals ( Coura , 2015 ); and the odoriferous glands of a marsupial infected with Trypanosoma cruzi can directly transmit the parasite to humans ( Coura , 2015 ).
Chagas disease has three distinct phases . The first is the acute phase , which may last 1 – 4 months after infection with Trypanosoma cruzi ( Prata , 2001 ; Stanaway & Roth , 2015 ). The characteristics of this phase are an increase in heart size , heart cell destruction , and depopulation of neurons ( Teixeira et al ., 2006 ). The acute phase is asymptomatic in 95 % of the cases ( Stanaway & Roth , 2015 ; Teixeira et al ., 2006 ). However , for the remaining 5 %, symptoms may include malaise , fever , jaundice , skin hemorrhages , enlargement of the liver , and muscle and joint pain ( Prata , 2001 ; Rassi et al ., 2010 ; Stanaway & Roth , 2015 ; Teixeira et al ., 2006 ) and less than 1 in 2,500 infections result in death . Physicians usually attribute the latter to encephalomyelitis or severe cardiac failure ( Prata , 2001 ; Stanaway & Roth , 2015 ; Teixeira et al ., 2006 ). The indeterminate phase is asymptomatic , usually
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