Chagas' disease is a leading cause of heart disease throughout Latin America, affecting an estimated 16 to 18 million individuals. Given the large pool of primary hosts for this zoonotic disease, complete eradication of Chagas' disease through control of the arthropod vector is unlikely. Research with both humans and animal models indicates that there is considerable variation in susceptibility...

C ONSIDERABLE advances in the clinical aspects of Chagas' disease have been made in the last decade. In the historical review of our knowledge 3 periods may be recognized.'5 1. The first period began with the clinical descriptions made by Chagas.2' 3 He described an acute form4 and several chronic forms3' 5 of American trypanosomiasis. He was greatly impressed6' 7 by the cardiac disturbances ex...

Patients in the chronic phase of Chagas' disease and receiving corticoid because of concommitant diseases were treated with nifurtimox. We proved in another paper that in the chronic phase of Chagas' disease corticoid use is associated with increased parasitemia, as evaluated by xenodiagnosis. In this study nifurtimox use prevented this increase, and we suggest that in immunocompromised patient...

A 56-year-old woman with well-documented Chagas disease was found to have a spontaneous type 1 electrocardiographic (ECG) pattern of Brugada syndrome. It is most likely that this characteristic ST-segment elevation is an unusual manifestation of the pathological changes in Chagas disease. This ECG pattern has been found with other cardiac pathology and has been reported to be induced in patient...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Previous studies on the influence of Chagas disease on mortality in patients with heart failure were limited by the heterogeneity of the patient populations. Few data are available on the association between the underlying cause of dilated cardiomyopathy and long-term prognosis. The aims of this study were to identify risk factors for mortality in patients with dilat...

Laboratory and clinical diagnostic classification of seropositive individuals, followed by treatment and supportive therapy, is an established component of Chagas' disease control in areas where this disease is endemic. However, most Chagas' disease patients live in remote areas where neither equipped laboratories nor skilled human resources are widely available. Employing a rapid diagnostic te...

Chagas' disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important cause of morbidity in many countries in Latin America. The important modes of transmission are by the bite of the reduviid bug and blood transfusion. The organism exists in three morphological forms: trypomastigotes, amastigotes, and epimastigotes. The mechanism of transformation and differentiation is currently being explored, and s...

Chagas disease reactivation in HIV-positive people is an opportunistic infection with 79 to 100% mortality. It commonly involves the central nervous system (CNS).

Approximately 8 million people worldwide are infected by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. After a latent period that can last years or decades, 10% to 30% of infected people develop serious complications, such as cardiomyopathy or gastrointestinal dysfunction. Contrary to popular belief, Chagas disease is not solely a vector-borne infection of Lat...