Urban Chagas disease in children and women in primary care centres in
Buenos Aires,Argentina |
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Authors: | Guillermo Moscatelli Ada Berenstein Ana Tarlovsky Susana Siniawski Miguel Biancardi Griselda Ballering Samanta Moroni Marta Schwarcz Susana Hernández Facundo García-Bournissen Andrés Espejo Cozzi Héctor Freilij Jaime Altcheh |
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Institution: | 1.Ricardo Gutiérrez Children’s Hospital, Department of Parasitology and Chagas, Buenos Aires, Argentina;2.Primary Care Centre, Community Action Centre 15, Buenos Aires, Argentina;3.Primary Care Centre, Community Action Centre 11, Buenos Aires, Argentina;4.Interamerican Open University, Centre of Studies on Human Science and Health, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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Abstract: | The primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of this disease in
women of childbearing age and children treated at health centres in underserviced
areas of the city of Buenos Aires. Demographic and Chagas disease status data were
collected. Samples for Chagas disease serology were obtained on filter paper and the
reactive results were confirmed with conventional samples. A total of 1,786 subjects
were screened and 73 positive screening results were obtained: 17 were from children
and 56 were from women. The Trypanosoma cruzi infection risk was
greater in those individuals who had relatives with Chagas disease, who remember
seeing kissing bugs, who were of Bolivian nationality or were born in the Argentine
province of Santiago del Estero. The overall prevalence of Chagas disease was 4.08%.
Due to migration, Chagas disease is currently predominantly urban. The observed
prevalence requires health programme activities that are aimed at urban children and
their mothers. Most children were infected congenitally, which reinforces the need
for Chagas disease screening of all pregnant women and their babies in Argentina. The
active search for new cases is important because the appropriate treatment in
children has a high cure rate. |
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Keywords: | Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas disease congenital transmission prevalence epidemiology treatment |
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