Diagnosis and Treatment of Congenital Chagas Disease in a Premature Infant

Chagas Disease in the United States: a Public Health Approach

“…Based on births to Latin American-born women in the United States and T. cruzi infection prevalence in their home countries, it was estimated that between 60 and 315 congenitally infected infants are born in the United States each year (308). Nevertheless, only two congenital infections have been reported, both in infants of Bolivian women (319,320). The first infant was delivered by caesarian section at 29 weeks gestation because of fetal hydrops (a classic presentation of severe congenital Chagas disease) (18).…”

Characteristics of Patients for Whom Benznidazole Was Released Through the CDC-Sponsored Investigational New Drug Program for Treatment of Chagas Disease — United States, 2011–2018

“…Median patient age was 42.9 years (range = 0.1–76.0 years). Only 32 patients (8.8%) were aged <19 years ( Table ), including two patients (0.5%) aged 2–12 years (5 years and 9 years) and one neonate with congenital Chagas disease ( 8 ).…”

“…Only four patients (1.1%) had acute-phase infection ( Table ). All four were born and became infected in the United States, two via transplantation of solid organs from Central American immigrants, one via congenital transmission from a Bolivian immigrant ( 8 ), and one via presumptive vectorborne transmission. The other 361 patients (98.9%) had chronic-phase infection, 35 of whom were Latin American immigrants who developed reactivated infection after becoming immunosuppressed in the context of solid organ transplantation (29 patients), infection with human immunodeficiency virus (five), or chemotherapy (one).…”

Congenital Chagas disease: current diagnostics, limitations and future perspectives

“…An estimated 300,000 infected persons reside in the United States, including approximately 40,000 women of childbearing age [2]. Only two cases of acute congenital Chagas disease have been reported in the United States [3,4]. However, 60 to 315 infections are expected to occur annually, but will be undetected in the absence of screening [5].…”