Abstract
Chagas disease is considered as emerging in the Brazilian Amazon, usually occurring in acute outbreaks. We describe 17 cases of acute Chagas disease in Rio Negro, Amazonas. There were 15 males (average age, 31.3 years), all positive for Trypanosoma cruzi in fresh blood smear examination, and 14 positive by xenodiagnosis and PCR. The top clinical manifestations were fever, asthenia, abdominal pain, and palpitations. Electrocardiograms featured low-voltage QRS, anterosuperior divisional block, and right bundle branch block associated with anterosuperior divisional block. All patients had consumed açaí products from Monte Alegre in the rural area around Santa Izabel do Rio Negro, Brazil.
Highlights
Chagas disease is considered as emerging in the Brazilian Amazon, usually occurring in acute outbreaks
No cases of Chagas disease are known among the people who live there. Another patient reported having slept in a rural area 3 months earlier, in the Castanheira community, but he said he had not seen any triatomines on that occasion
The patient with the EKG showing right bundle branch block (RBBB) associated with anterosuperior divisional block (ASDB) traveled to Manaus and was evaluated at a cardiology clinic on May 31, 2010
Summary
Outbreak of acute Chagas disease associated with oral transmission in the Rio Negro region, Brazilian Amazon. Gerência de Leishmaniose e Gerencia de Entomologia, Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr Heitor Vieira Dourado, Manaus, AM. Escola Superior de Ciências da Saúde, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Tropical, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, Manaus, AM. Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação, Universidade Nilton Lins, Manaus, AM. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Hospital Universitário Francisca Mendes, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, AM. Departamento Vigilância Epidemiológica, Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas, Manaus, AM. Laboratório Central de Saúde, Fundação de Vigilância em Saúde do Amazonas, Manaus, AM
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