Abstract: | BackgroundChagas disease affects more than 15 million people worldwide. Although
vector-borne transmission has decreased, oral transmission has become important.
Recently, our group published the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of
the largest outbreak of orally transmitted Chagas disease reported till date.
Objective: To describe electrocardiographic changes occurring in the study
population during the outbreak caused by ingestion of contaminated guava juice.
MethodsWe evaluated 103 positive cases, of which 76 (74%) were aged ≤ 18 years (average
age: 9.1 ± 3.1 years) and 27 (26%) were aged > 18 years (average age: 46 ± 11.8
years). All patients underwent clinical evaluations and ECG. If the patients had
palpitations or evident alterations of rhythm at baseline, ambulatory ECG
monitoring was performed. ResultsA total of 68 cases (66%; 53 children and 15 adults) had ECG abnormalities.
Further, 69.7% (53/76) of those aged ≤ 18 years and 56% (15/27) of those aged
>18 years showed some ECG alteration (p = ns). ST-T abnormalities were observed
in 37.86% cases (39/103) and arrhythmias were evident in 28.16% cases (29/103). ST
alterations occurred in 72% of those aged ≤18 years compared with 19% of th ose
aged >18 years (p < 0.0001). ConclusionThis study reports the largest number of cases in the same outbreak of acute
Chagas disease caused by oral contamination, with recorded ECGs. ECG changes
suggestive of acute myocarditis and arrhythmias were the most frequent
abnormalities found. |