Chagas Disease

Delaporte’s brilliant historical exploration of Chagas' disease covers the decisive period of 1909-1935. The strength of the study is the exhaustive discussion of the scientific literature, the subtle examination of fundamental shifts in conceptual frameworks, and the unrelenting interrogation of the crucial role that chance and error play in scientific research. What Delaporte has written is a comédie humaine of post-colonial science.---—Carlo Caduff, King's College, London

Several points about the discovery of Chagas disease as described in the book are striking. ~—The Lancet

In this finely crafted monograph, Francois Delaporte tackles one of the most complex diseases, American trypanosomiasis, known as Chagas Disease. Through his skillful dissection, he shows how complicated its discovery actually was, and offers wonderful insights into the international dimensions of Brazilian medical science in the early twentieth century. It is good to have this important work available in English.---—W. F. Bynum, MD, PhD, FRCP, Professor Emeritus, University College London

If Delaporte is correct then Chagas did not discover the causative organisms of American trypanosomiasis, did not work out the life cycle in the bug and did not discover the disease. So why is he so revered? Delaporte thinks that this is because Chagas was an expert at reformulating the past by rewriting history. ~—Parasitology

'Chagas Disease' is a page-turner, where the reader is invited to wonder what will happen next. ~—International Studies in the Philosophy of Science