Update on Chagas disease in Venezuela: a review

Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Néstor Añez¹  Gladys Crisante¹  Agustina Rojas¹ 

[1] ,Universidad de Los Andes Facultad de Ciencias Departamento de BiologíaMérida,Venezuela

关键词: Chagas disease;    re-emergence;    update;    Venezuela;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0074-02762004000800001

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The present article reviews the status of Chagas disease in Venezuela based on the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi infections both in referred patients with clinical presumptive diagnosis (1988-2002) and in individuals sampled from rural localities representative of the different geographical regions of the country (1995-2002). In the former group from 306 individuals examined, 174 (56.8%) were seropositive to T. cruzi; 73 (42%) in the acute phase with 52 (71%) showing blood circulating parasites, and from these 38% were children under 10 years old. The other 101 (58%) showed chronic infection at different degrees of cardiac complication. In addition, serologic examination of 3835 individuals from rural areas revealed 11.7% seroprevalence. From these, 8.5% (38/448) were children aged from 0 to 10 years old. These figures suggest that Chagas disease may be re-emerging in Venezuela judging for the active transmission detected during the last decade. The success of the Venezuelan anti-chagasic campaign during the last 40 years is evaluated in the frame of the present results. The epidemiological situation is discussed and recommendation to consider Chagas disease as a national priority is given.

【 授权许可】

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