Retrospective study of the epidemiological overview of the transmission of Chagas disease in the State of Acre, South-Western Amazonia, from 2009 to 2016

Abstract

Introduction: Chagas disease (CD), also known as American Trypanosomiasis, is an infectious parasitic disease caused by the etiologic agent Trypanosoma cruzi. It is considered endemic in the low-income population and is classified by the WHO as a neglected tropical disease. In the state of Acre, there is almost no scientific data regarding the epidemiology of CD, even though the first autochthonous case was registered in the 1980s.
 Objective: To analyze the epidemiological panorama of the transmission of Chagas disease in the State of Acre, Brazil, from 2009 to 2016.
 Methods: A survey of the occurrence of Chagas disease in the State of Acre was performed using public domain secondary data from the Brazil’s Notifiable Diseases Information System of SUS (publicly funded health care system), and from the SUS Database of the Health Surveillance Foundation of the State of Acre. Data were collected from the following variables: gender, age group, form of contagion, distribution by region and municipality, perimeter and seasonality.
 Result: Forty-two cases of CD were confirmed, with an increase of more than 300% from 2015 to 2016 and a frequency coefficient of 3.06 cases per 100,000 people, and in the Tarauacá/Envira region, the probability of a person contracting CD was 600% higher than the state mean.
 Conclusion: We found that in the state of Acre, in the period from 2009 to 2016, most cases of CD occurred in 2016, in the Tarauacá/Envira region, mainly in the municipality of Feijó, in the rural zone, from July to October, in the age group of 0 to 30 years, being the oral form the main route of transmission and presenting no statistical difference between men and women.