You cannot be infected by simple skin contact. Infection can only occur when the infected blood penetrates through a break in the skin or another route of entry. Infection can be the result of contact with an infected needle. Such an accident could, for example, occur in an operating room if a health professional is accidentally pricked with a needle that has been in contact with the blood of a person with Chagas. The likelihood of infection varies depending on the stage of the affected person’s disease. In an adult with disease in the chronic stage, there are very few parasites in blood that can cause disease so the probability of transmission in this way during this phase is minimal. If the blood comes from a baby with Chagas, the possibility of infection is greater because the baby has acute Chagas disease and his or her blood will contain many circulating parasites. It is therefore advisable to use protection when cutting the umbilical cord during a delivery to prevent contact with splashes of blood on or near the eyes or mouth, since in both cases there is a risk of transmission.