Discrete typing units of Trypanosoma cruzi detected by real-time PCR in Chilean patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy.

Discrete typing units of Trypanosoma cruzi detected by real-time PCR in Chilean patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy. Acta Trop. 2018 May 07;: Authors: Martín CM, Zulantay I, Saavedra M, Fuentealba C, Muñoz G, Apt W Abstract Chagas disease is a major public health problem in Latin America and has spread to other countries due to immigration of infected persons. 10-30% of patients with chronic Chagas disease will develop cardiomyopathy. Chagas cardiomyopathy is the worst form of the disease, due to its high morbidity and mortality. Because of its prognostic value and adequate medical monitoring, it is very important to identify infected people who could develop Chagas cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to determine if discrete typing units (DTUs) of Trypanosoma cruzi are related to the presence of heart disease in patients with chronic Chagas disease. A total of 86 untreated patients, 41 with cardiomyopathy and 45 without heart involvement were submitted to clinical study. Electrocardiograms and echocardiograms were performed on the group of cardiopaths, in which all important known causes of cardiomyopathy were discarded. Sinus bradycardia and prolonged QTc interval were the most frequent electrocardiographic alterations and patients were classified in group I (46%) and group II (54%) of New York Hearth Association. In all cases real-time PCR genotyping assays were performed; the most frequent DTUs observed were TcI (...
Source: Acta Tropica - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Acta Trop Source Type: research