Has the prevalence of Chagas disease increased in Central Latin America?

In their editorial published in PLOS NTDs, Hotez et al. [1] wrote that “the GBD 2017 [Global Burden of Disease Study 2017] tells a sobering story about progress in controlling malaria and NTDs [neglected tropical diseases]” in Central Latin America (CLA). CLA is a region defined by the GBD 2017, including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. As part of the sobering story, Hotez et al. [1] found that the prevalence of Chagas disease increased by 16% from 2000 to 2017, implying that its control has not progressed during the last two decades. In this article, we show that the GBD 2017 can tell a different story about Chagas disease in CLA.