Emerging acute Chagas disease in Amazonian Brazil: case reports with serious cardiac involvement

Four cases of serious cardiac attacks by autochthonous Trypanosoma cruzi infection from the Brazilian Amazon are reported; three of them occurred in micro-epidemic episodes. The manifestations included sudden fever, myalgia, dyspnea and signs of heart failure. Diagnosis was confirmed by specific exa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases 2004-12, Vol.8 (6), p.454-460
Main Authors: Pinto, Ana Yecê das Neves, Valente, Sebastião Aldo da Silva, Valente, Vera da Costa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Adolescent
Adult
Animals
Brazil
Brazilian Amazon
Cardiac Tamponade - parasitology
Cardiac Tamponade - pathology
cardiovascular
Chagas Cardiomyopathy - complications
Chagas Cardiomyopathy - diagnosis
Chagas Cardiomyopathy - pathology
Chagas disease
Communicable Diseases, Emerging - complications
Communicable Diseases, Emerging - diagnosis
Communicable Diseases, Emerging - pathology
Fatal Outcome
Female
Humans
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Male
Middle Aged
myocarditis
Trypanosoma cruzi - isolation & purification
trypanosomiasis
Xenodiagnosis
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Summary:Four cases of serious cardiac attacks by autochthonous Trypanosoma cruzi infection from the Brazilian Amazon are reported; three of them occurred in micro-epidemic episodes. The manifestations included sudden fever, myalgia, dyspnea and signs of heart failure. Diagnosis was confirmed by specific exams, especially QBC (Quantitative Buffy Coat) and natural xenodiagnosis. Despite treatment with benznidazol, three patients died with serious myocarditis, renal failure and cardiac tamponade. The authors call attention to the emergence of this disease and reveal a previously unknown pathogenicity of T. cruzi strains in this area, added to a non-usual transmission form.
ISSN:1413-8670
1678-4391
1413-8670
DOI:10.1590/S1413-86702004000600010