Chagas disease and its complications

Abstract

Albeit generally known to be broad in Latin America, due to recent trends in migration, there are millions of people from Chagas disease endemic countries now living in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan, including thousands of people with Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Most infected individuals are not aware of their status. Congenital, transfusion- and/or transplant-associated transmission has been documented in the United States, Spain, Canada and Switzerland; most instances likely remain undetected. High priorities include the implementation of appropriate screening, evaluation and clinical management, and better assessment of the true burden associated with this disease. Therefore, Chagas disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cardiac problems such as acute myocarditis. Apart from its well-defined cardiac manifestations, Chagas disease...