Epidemiological profile of acute Chagas disease in individuals infected by oral transmission in northern Brazil

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: George Harisson Felinto Sampaio, Andressa Noronha Barbosa da Silva, Carlos Ramon do Nascimento Brito, Nathan Ravi Medeiros Honorato, Luara Musse de Oliveira, Antônia Claudia Jácome da Câmara, Lúcia Maria da Cunha Galvão
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2020
• Subjects: Trypanosoma cruzi; Açaí; Acute infection; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0088-2020; https://doaj.org/article/f3007edac1ab45eaa1d4fb095ddc898b

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Oral infection by Trypanosoma cruzi is currently the most important route of transmission of acute Chagas disease (ACD) in the North region of Brazil, and the reported outbreaks are usually related to ingestion of contaminated food, especially unprocessed açaí pulp. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was performed to analyze the epidemiological profile of individuals with suspected cases of ACD in the municipality of Breves, located in the state of Pará, Brazil. Therefore, notifications of suspected cases of ACD were collected from the Municipal Health Department of Breves from January 2007 to December 2017. RESULTS A total of 265 individuals were registered, and the majority were male (54.7%; 145/265). Age ranged from nine months to 79 years, with a greater number of notifications for individuals aged between 1 and 39 years (71.3%; 189/265). Most of them had a low level of education (74.3%, 197/265), were living in rural and urban areas (58.9%; 156/265 and 37.7%; 100/265, respectively). Infection occurred mainly in the domestic environment (96.2%; 255/265) through oral transmission (98.1%; 260/265). There were a greater number of notifications in November, December and January. CONCLUSIONS These data showed that oral transmission of T. cruzi has become increasingly high in the study region, and health education programs need to be implemented as strategies to ensure good manufacturing practices of unprocessed food.