Physical activity levels during COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors in patients with Chagas disease.

Background: A better understanding of the consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on lifestyle of patients with Chagas disease (ChD) is of paramount importance to facilitate the implementation of intervention strategies tailored to this specific population.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the level of physical activity (PA) in Chagas disease (ChD) patients during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its main associated factors.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 187 patients of both sexes, aged ≥18 years, followed in a national infectious disease center (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Drug screening and development cascade for Chagas disease: an update of in vitro and in vivo experimental models.

Chagas disease is a tropical neglected disease that affects millions of people worldwide, still demanding a more effective and safer therapy, especially in its chronic phase which lacks a treatment that promotes substantial parasitological cure. The technical note of Romanha and collaborators published in 2010 aimed establish a guideline with the set of minimum criteria and decision gates for the development of new agents against Trypanosoma cruzi with the focus on developing new antichagasic drugs. In this sense, the present review aims to update this technical note, bringing the state of the art and new advances on this topic in recent years.

Autonomic denervation, myocardial hypoperfusion and fibrosis may predict ventricular arrhythmia in the early stages of Chagas cardiomyopathy.

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) can be the first clinical event of Chagas heart disease (CHD). However, current guidelines contain no clear recommendation for early cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. Using imaging modalities, we evaluated associations among autonomic denervation, myocardial hypoperfusion, fibrosis and ventricular arrhythmia in CHD.

Temporal changes in the clinical-epidemiological profile of patients with Chagas disease at a referral center in Brazil.

Introduction: We aimed to describe the sociodemographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics of patients with chronic Chagas disease (CD) at an infectious disease referral center. Changes in patient profiles over time were also evaluated.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients with CD from November 1986-December 2019.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and associated factors among patients with chronic Chagas disease.

The increase in life expectancy and the migration of individuals with Chagas disease (ChD) from rural to urban centers exposes them to the development of chronic-degenerative abnormalities that may increase the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The present study aimed to identify the prevalence of MetS and its components in individuals with chronic ChD. This is a cross-sectional study with 361 patients of both sexes, aging >18 years, followed at a national reference center (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Association between Trypanosoma cruzi DTU TcII and chronic Chagas disease clinical presentation and outcome in an urban cohort in Brazil.

Background: The specific roles of parasite characteristics and immunological factors of the host in Chagas disease progression and prognosis are still under debate. Trypanosoma cruzi genotype may be an important determinant of the clinical chronic Chagas disease form and prognosis. This study aimed to identify the potential association between T.

Blood culture positivity rate for Trypanosoma cruzi in patients with chronic Chagas disease differs among different clinical forms.

Background: The purpose of this research was to compare the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with chronic Chagas disease with and without positive blood cultures for Trypanosoma cruzi.

Methods: This was a retrospective longitudinal study that included 139 patients with chronic Chagas disease who underwent blood culture for T. cruzi.

Associations between Cardiac Magnetic Resonance T1 Mapping Parameters and Ventricular Arrhythmia in Patients with Chagas Disease.

Chronic Chagas disease can progress to myocardial involvement with intense fibrosis, which may predispose patients to sudden cardiac death through ventricular arrhythmia. The associations of myocardial fibrosis detected by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) parameters with non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) were evaluated. This cross-sectional study included patients in early stages of Chagas disease ( = 47) and a control group ( = 15).

Progression Rate from the Indeterminate Form to the Cardiac Form in Patients with Chronic Chagas Disease: Twenty-Two-Year Follow-Up in a Brazilian Urban Cohort.

Unlabelled: Most patients with chronic Chagas disease (CD) present the indeterminate form and are at risk to develop the cardiac form. However, the actual rate of progression to the cardiac form is still unknown.

Methods: In total, 550 patients with the indeterminate CD form were followed by means of annual electrocardiogram at our outpatient clinic.

Agreement between upper endoscopy and esophagography in the diagnosis of megaesophagus in Chagas disease.

Introduction: The diagnosis and classification of megaesophagus can be challenging in patients with Chagas disease. The present study aimed to evaluate the agreement between upper endoscopies and esophagographies for the diagnosis and classification of megaesophagus in Chagas disease.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 50 patients with Chagas disease with upper digestive symptoms was undertaken.

A protocol update for the Selenium Treatment and Chagasic Cardiomyopathy (STCC) trial.

Unlabelled: Several studies evaluating clinical forms of chronic Chagas disease show that about one-third of patients present cardiac involvement. Heart failure, sudden death and cardioembolic stroke are the main mechanisms of death in Chagas heart disease. The impact of specific etiologic treatment on the prognosis of patients with chronic Chagas heart disease is very limited regardless of the presence or absence of heart failure.

Ageing with Chagas disease: an overview of an urban Brazilian cohort in Rio de Janeiro.

Background: Chagas disease control programmes have decreased the prevalence of Chagas disease in Latin America. Together with migration to urban areas and increase in life expectancy, a new scenario for Chagas disease has emerged in Brazil with most patients currently elderly individuals living in urban areas. However, acute Chagas disease cases still occur due to vector transmission by sylvatic vectors and oral transmission by contaminated food.

Benznidazole treatment safety: the Médecins Sans Frontières experience in a large cohort of Bolivian patients with Chagas' disease.

Background: Up to half of patients with Chagas' disease under benznidazole treatment present adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and up to one-third do not complete standard treatment.

Objectives: To verify the incidence and possible factors associated with the suspension of benznidazole treatment in a large cohort of patients.

Methods: We included 2075 patients treated with benznidazole during the projects managed by the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) in Bolivia from 2009 to 2013.

Omega-3 supplementation on inflammatory markers in patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy: a randomized clinical study.

Background: Several studies have been focusing on the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on modulation of inflammatory markers in several cardiopathies. Although immunoregulatory dysfunction has been associated to the chronic cardiac involvement in Chagas disease, there is no study examining the effects of omega-3 supplementation in these patients. We investigated the effects of omega-3 PUFAs on markers of inflammation and lipid profile in chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy patients.

Chagas disease transmission by consumption of game meat: systematic review.

Objective:: To evaluate the influence of game meat consumption in Chagas disease (CD) transmission, the conditions under which it occurs and the frequency of reports in the literature.

Methods:: Through systematic review, databases PubMed, LILACS, MEDLINE, and SciELO were consulted, and articles written in Portuguese, English, and Spanish were included, with no limitation over publication date. We used the following descriptors: oral, transmission, meat, wild animals, hunt, carnivory, and Chagas disease.

Cardiac rehabilitation program in patients with Chagas heart failure: a single-arm pilot study.

Introduction: The benefit of a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program for patients with Chagas heart failure (CHF) remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of CR for CHF patients.

Methods: A single-arm pilot study, including 12 patients with CHF, was performed.

FIRST REPORT OF ACUTE CHAGAS DISEASE BY VECTOR TRANSMISSION IN RIO DE JANEIRO STATE, BRAZIL.

Chagas disease (CD) is an endemic anthropozoonosis from Latin America of which the main means of transmission is the contact of skin lesions or mucosa with the feces of triatomine bugs infected by Trypanosoma cruzi. In this article, we describe the first acute CD case acquired by vector transmission in the Rio de Janeiro State and confirmed by parasitological, serological and PCR tests. The patient presented acute cardiomyopathy and pericardial effusion without cardiac tamponade.

Autochthonous transmission of Chagas disease in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil: a clinical and eco-epidemiological study.

Background: After the control of the main modes of Chagas disease (CD) transmission in most endemic countries, it is important to identify the participation of native sylvatic vectors in CD transmission. Although CD is not considered endemic in Rio de Janeiro State (RJ), Brazil, we identified patients with CD born in RJ and investigated the possible autochthonous transmission in the state.

Methods: Patients born in RJ and followed in our institution between 1986 and 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.

Expansion of visceral leishmaniasis in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: report of the first autochthonous case in the municipality of Volta Redonda and the difficulty of diagnosis.

Visceral Leishmaniasis has been showing remarkable epidemiological changes in recent decades, with marked expansion and an emergence of cases in urban areas of the North, Southeast and Midwest regions of Brazil. The Kala-azar cases reported here, despite being very characteristic, presented a great difficulty of diagnosis, because the disease is not endemic in Volta Redonda. The child underwent two hospitalizations in different hospitals, but got the correct diagnosis only after 11 months of symptom onset.

Matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 are differentially expressed in patients with indeterminate and cardiac clinical forms of Chagas disease.

Dilated chronic cardiomyopathy (DCC) from Chagas disease is associated with myocardial remodeling and interstitial fibrosis, resulting in extracellular matrix (ECM) changes. In this study, we characterized for the first time the serum matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 levels, as well as their main cell sources in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients presenting with the indeterminate (IND) or cardiac (CARD) clinical form of Chagas disease. Our results showed that serum levels of MMP-9 are associated with the severity of Chagas disease.