Current situation and perspectives regarding human Chagas disease in midwestern of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Recognising the importance of Chagas disease in Brazil, Bambuí set up epidemiological surveillance for Chagas disease in 1974 and was the first municipality to do so. To ascertain the current epidemiology of Chagas disease in this municipality, 1.782 blood samples from the general population were analysed; 7.7% of samples were found to be seropositive for Chagas disease. A strong positive correlation between increasing age and Chagas disease was evident in both genders, with the highest prevalence in individuals aged over 60 years. Clinically, the cardiodigestive form of Chagas disease was the most common in these samples. These data confirm the interruption of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission, in parallel with a still important residual morbidity of Chagas disease in the county, thus supporting political decisions that will prioritise epidemiological surveillance and medical treatment of Chagas disease in the coming years.

Epidemiological and clinical profile of patients with Chagas disease in the Central-North area of Paraná, Southern Brazil

“…This can be partially explained by most patients (60%) being older than 65 years of age, who present comorbidities with other chronic diseases, besides the genetic composition of both the patient and the parasite that can influence the clinical manifestations of CD 4 . Different data were found by other researchers who described the predominance of the indeterminate form 3,12 or of the cardiodigestive form 13 . Age acts as a risk factor associated with the development of Chagas heart disease and the transition from the indeterminate form to cardiomyopathy generally occurs in a slow and progressive fashion, affecting 2-3% of patients each year 14 .…”

Ageing with Chagas disease: an overview of an urban Brazilian cohort in Rio de Janeiro

“…Our study and others [ 36 , 37 ] have shown a higher proportion of women with CD, although T. cruzi infection does not have a gender predilection [ 38 ]. This difference may be related to the more frequent use of health services by women, even after controlling for restrictions in routine activities due to health reasons [ 39 ].…”

A Specific IL6 Polymorphic Genotype Modulates the Risk of Trypanosoma cruzi Parasitemia While IL18, IL17A, and IL1B Variant Profiles and HIV Infection Protect Against Cardiomyopathy in Chagas Disease

“…As a novel finding, digestive involvement associated negatively with NYHA ≥ 2 and LVEF < 45%, suggesting that such patients may develop a milder cardiopathy than affected individuals without digestive disease. This observation has never been reported (1,31,80). Alternative explanations for this finding may comprise a potential inclusion of more severely affected cardiac patients in our study and a potentially smaller than real proportion of patients with the indeterminate form due to underdiagnosis and/ or loss of follow-up, raising the cardiac form/indeterminate form ratio.…”