06/27/2024. Starting in August, in the nine campuses of that university, students will receive the certificate of physical fitness in University Health. Those who obtain a positive diagnosis of the disease will receive medical follow-up and treatment at the Señor del Milagro hospital.
He Ministry of Public Healthin coordination with the National University of Salta (UNSa) and the Mundo Sano Foundation, will test entrants to this high school of studies to detect Chagas early.
The activity will take place starting in August, the date on which students must take the exams to certify physical fitness at the University Health Directorate.
The decision was made in a hybrid meeting that was headed by the Minister of Public Health, Federico Mangione; by the rector of UNSa, Daniel Hoyos and by authorities of the Mundo Sano Foundation.
The person in charge of the Chagas clinic at the Señor del Milagro hospital, Adriana Echazú, explained that “the testing will be carried out at the 9 UNSa headquarters and will consist of a quick exam, which is done on a test strip with droplets of blood, which “It will allow us to know if the entrants have the infection or not.”
He added that “the main objective is to detect this pathology and offer timely treatment to those who are positive, since some of them may be chronically infected and not present symptoms. Also, in the case of women to avoid vertical transmission during pregnancy.”
The professional said that, “those patients with a positive result will be referred to the Señor del Milagro hospital, to carry out other studies and begin the relevant medical treatment.”
The main benefit of this testing campaign is primary prevention, with women of childbearing age, since it is the main cause of transmission of this infection in Salta; and secondary, that is, with the infected person who does not know their diagnosis, to improve their quality of life.
Echazú indicated that “30% of those infected with Chagas disease begin to present symptoms, many years after infection, even 30 or 40 years later, which is why testing is essential.”
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