Long-term cardiology outcomes in children after early treatment for Chagas disease, an observational study

by González NL, Moscatelli G, Moroni S, Ballering G, Jurado L, Falk N, Bochoeyer A, Goldsman G, Grippo M, Freilij H, Bournissen FG, Chatelain E, Altcheh J. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2022;16(12): e0010968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010968

Summary: Untreated Chagas disease evolves into a chronic oligosymptomatic infection that can progress to cardiac complications. Few studies have investigated the clinical effectiveness of Chagas disease treatment by evaluating cardiological events during long term follow-up of treated children. The authors evaluated cardiac involvement in 234 patients with Chagas disease with at least 6 years post-treatment follow-up. During follow-up, alterations in routine ECG were observed in 11/234 patients, four of which were probably related to Chagas disease. 129/130 treated patients achieved persistent negative parasitemia by qPCR. This low incidence of Chagas disease-related cardiological lesions in patients treated early for paediatric Chagas disease suggests a protective effect of parasiticidal treatment, highlighting the importance of treating infected children early.

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