I was watching the movie Creation, which is about Charles Darwin. It talked about his hydrotherapy treatments, which caused me to look up what disease people thought he had. One of the possible diseases was Chagas disease that is transmitted by the kissing bug Triatoma infestans which is common to S. America. It said that the disease caused by the parasites is an auto-immune disorder like AIDS and often does not develop for 20-30 years after exposure. What I am wondering is given how many missionaries the church sends to S. America, and the less than hygienic conditions of many of the flats the elder live in, how many missionaries contracted this disease? Anyone on the board get Chagas disease from their mission to S. America?

Many people are confused about this, but AIDS is NOT an autoimmune disorder. It is a disease of the immune system, but it is not autoimmunity.

In AIDS, the immune system fails due to HIV infection. The problem is low immunity.

In autoimmunity, a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental triggers leads to the immune system attacking the patient's own tissues. This is an overactive immune system, and these conditions are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system.

The two are opposites of each other, in addition to having completely different causes and treatments.

I know of one guy that went to Argentina, mid 80's, and he told that he got really sick from some sort of intestinal bug while on his mission. He states that ever since then, about once a month he gets a bout of explosive diarrhea. He thiks it must be some residual parsite.