Argentine actress Mia Maestro, who played a lethal spy on TV's "Alias," is lending her fame to fight a real killer. She is trying to bring awareness about Chagas disease, which infects about 12 million people in Central and South America.

Chagas disease can cause high fever, swelling, enlargement of the spleen, liver and lymph nodes, and inflammation of the heart. Most people infected do not get sick, but the disease can be fatal.

It is little known in the United States, where about 100,000 residents have been infected. Also called American trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease is an infection caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, according to the Centers for Disease Control Web site. Blood-sucking Triatomine bugs that live in cracks and holes of substandard housing from the southern United States to southern Argentina spread the disease. Worldwide, it is estimated that 16 to 18 million people are infected with Chagas disease; of those infected, 50,000 will die each year. It is also one of the illnesses to which Charles Darwin's mysterious lifelong ailments have often been attributed.

"Chagas is a disease that I grew up hearing about because my mom is from the north of Argentina," Maestro told The Associated Press on Saturday. "I'm very familiar with it, but I had no idea few people know about it. So whatever I can do to raise awareness, I'll do it."

Maestro, 28, has appeared in "The Motorcycle Diaries," "Frida" and "The Poseidon Adventure."

She attended Saturday's screening of the documentary "Chagas: A Hidden Affliction," which opened the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.

"I call Chagas the AIDS of the poor," said Ricardo Preve, the film's director. "It's a silent killer and we're not doing anything about it because of a lack of education."

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On the Net:

http://www.chagasthemovie.com/

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