Back TJID3 Research · Animated Teaching Primitive · 2026
Animated scientific plate · zero dependency primitive

Chagas Disease, Step by Step

A staged visual model for Trypanosoma cruzi. Eighteen captioned frames trace the parasite from triatomine gut to human bloodstream to host cell, then through the alternate routes the static plate cannot animate.

Inline SVG Manual & autoplay Reference plate No CDN 18 steps T.M. Jones, Ph.D. · ORCID 0000-0001-7372-6345
Companion document
Chagas Disease: Comprehensive Scientific Reference→

Taxonomy, DTUs, genome, Triatominae vectors, clinical phases, treatment, and a postulated path to control.

Teaching note
Companion to the static infographic. The static plate is the archival reference layer. This animated file is the guided entry path into the same transmission system. This file is the hallway into the plate. ←→ to navigate · Space to play/pause. Chagas is not hard because the facts are hidden. It is hard because the life cycle is distributed across bugs, people, reservoirs, tissues, parasite stages, and decades of time.
Module
Step 1 of 18
Location
Animated Chagas disease lifecycle plate An interactive SVG showing the stepwise movement of Trypanosoma cruzi through triatomine vector, human bloodstream, host cells, and alternate transmission routes. Triatomine vector insect gut cycle midgut hindgut Human host bloodstream and intracellular cycle mucosal / skin entry heart gut vessels human host Host cell intracellular multiplication Other routes not the core bite cycle food / drink blood / organ / lab congenital vector gut forms bloodstream and tissue forms amastigotes in host cell
Manual · ←→

1. Triatomine bug takes a blood meal

The bug feeds on blood and ingests bloodstream trypomastigotes.

Glossary

Trypanosoma cruzi
The protozoan parasite that causes Chagas disease.
Triatomine bug
A blood-feeding insect vector that can acquire and transmit T. cruzi.
Bloodstream trypomastigote
The flagellated form circulating in mammalian blood, available for uptake by a feeding bug.
Epimastigote
The replicative form in the triatomine gut.
Metacyclic trypomastigote
The infective form produced in the bug hindgut and shed in feces.
Amastigote
The intracellular replicative form inside mammalian host cells.
Vector
An organism that carries and transmits a pathogen between hosts.
Congenital transmission
Transmission from an infected mother to the infant during pregnancy.
Oral transmission
Infection through food or drink contaminated with infective material.
Host cell
A mammalian cell invaded by the parasite and used for intracellular multiplication.

Citation and archival

Persistent identifier
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19841488

Zenodo deposit, version of record. ORCID 0000-0001-7372-6345.

Suggested citation

Jones, T. M. (2026). Chagas Disease, Step by Step: An Animated Zero-Dependency Teaching Primitive. TJID3 Research. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19841488

Artifact profile
  • Single-file HTML, no CDN, no external scripts.
  • Inline SVG plate, eighteen captioned frames.
  • Saves and runs offline; archival under the 20-Year File standard.
Sources