Center of Excellence for Chagas Disease at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center

We have been designated by the CDC as the first Center of Excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of Chagas Disease in the United States of America. Based at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in the North East of the San Fernando Valley in the greater Los Angeles area, we serve a predominantly Hispanic community.

On-campus, T. cruzi screening is routinely performed to patients in Olive View-UCLA Medical Center who present with:

• cardiomyopahty
• abnormal electric conduction in ECG
• pregnancy
• newborns of Chagas positive mothers

Our goal is to screen as many at-risk people as we can in order to detect T. cruzi infection in early stages. Early treatment can reduce and possibly prevent complications of CD, including the late stages of cardiomyopathy and overt CHF. At the same time that we screen people we are spreading knowledge in this communities so that they can return for testing and at the same time empower them to demand for this screening to be provided. We have started screening also in another three of the Department of Health Service’s clinics in the San Fernando area.