title: [To treat or not to treat? Scientific controversy about the treatment for chronic Chagas' disease patients.].
abstract: Chagas disease is one of the main endemic illnesses in Latin America. Since 1969 up to the present, the treatment of chronic Chagas patients has been the object of a scientific-medical controversy mobilizing several bodies of knowledge and actors. The resolution of the controversy has direct effects on the health of patients; however, they have been systematically excluded of public debates. In this paper we identified and specified four different steps of the controversy, showing the different positions adopted by the actors implicated, analyzing their statements, the scientific knowledge mobilized during the debates and the consequences for the establishment of norms for the treatment. We conclude showing that what makes up the central issue of the controversy is not what the actors implicated explicitly state as it but the criteria (technical and cognitive) through which are measured and defined "illness" and "cure" states. This research is about a case study in Argentina.
authors.affiliation: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET).
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kreimer
authors.forename: Lucía Ana
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bilder
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina / Q000208:ethnology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history; D019353:Endemic Diseases / Q000266:history; D006666:History of Medicine; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007843:Latin America / Q000208:ethnology; D010361:Patients / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D013812:Therapeutics / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome