Chagas en Argentina: ¿qué saben los docentes?

In the context of Chagas Disease Control Programs schools play an important role in developing prevention and promotion activities, for which up to date and trained teachers are required. In order to assess teachers' knowledge of Chagas disease, elementary school teachers, in both rural (ER) and urban (EU) schools in Argentina in communities where there have been no educational interventions, were surveyed. The findings indicate that vector transmission is recognized by most teachers (91%) but there is a lack of knowledge of other modes of transmission. No teachers in rural areas and only 5.7% of teachers in urban areas mentioned congenital transmission. Opportunities for training were also limited and insufficient. The findings indicate the pervasive idea of Chagas disease being linked to ranches, bugs and rural areas, highlighting the need to train and prepare teachers on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]