TY - JOUR
T1 - Chagas Disease in Pregnant Women from Endemic Regions Attending the Hospital General de Mexico, Mexico City
AU - Chakravarti, Indira
AU - Miranda-Schaeubinger, Monica
AU - Ruiz-Remigio, Adriana
AU - Briones-Garduño, Carlos
AU - Fernández-Figueroa, Edith A.
AU - Villanueva-Cabello, Concepción Celeste
AU - Borge-Villareal, Alejandra
AU - Bejar-Ramírez, Yadira
AU - Pérez-González, Alejandro
AU - Rivera-Benitez, César
AU - Oren, Eyal
AU - Brown, Heidi E.
AU - Becker, Ingeborg
AU - Gilman, Robert H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by Research Program on Migration and Health (Programa de Investigación en Migracion y Salud) (PIMSA), Health Initiatives of the Americas, and by the Universidad Autónoma de México, grant number UNAM-PAPIIT AG201221.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Trypanosoma cruzi infection leads to Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical infection of significant public health importance in South and Central America and other, non-endemic, countries. Pregnant women and their children are of particular importance to screen as T. cruzi can be transmitted vertically. The objective of this study was to screen for T. cruzi infection among pregnant women from endemic areas seen at the Hospital General de Mexico for prenatal care, so that they and their children may be quickly connected to CD treatment. Pregnant women were recruited through the hospital prenatal clinic and screened for T. cruzi infection using a series of serological and molecular tests. Of 150 screened patients, mean age 26.8 (SD 6.4), 30 (20.0%) were positive by at least one diagnostic test. Of these, only nine (6%) were positive as determined by PCR. Diagnosis of chronic CD is difficult in endemic places like Mexico due to the limitations of current commercially available diagnostic tests. Further evaluation of diagnostic performance of various assays could improve current CD diagnostic algorithms and proper care management in these regions. Genetic variability in the parasite may also play a role in the differing assay performances seen in this study, and this may be a valuable avenue of further research.
AB - Trypanosoma cruzi infection leads to Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical infection of significant public health importance in South and Central America and other, non-endemic, countries. Pregnant women and their children are of particular importance to screen as T. cruzi can be transmitted vertically. The objective of this study was to screen for T. cruzi infection among pregnant women from endemic areas seen at the Hospital General de Mexico for prenatal care, so that they and their children may be quickly connected to CD treatment. Pregnant women were recruited through the hospital prenatal clinic and screened for T. cruzi infection using a series of serological and molecular tests. Of 150 screened patients, mean age 26.8 (SD 6.4), 30 (20.0%) were positive by at least one diagnostic test. Of these, only nine (6%) were positive as determined by PCR. Diagnosis of chronic CD is difficult in endemic places like Mexico due to the limitations of current commercially available diagnostic tests. Further evaluation of diagnostic performance of various assays could improve current CD diagnostic algorithms and proper care management in these regions. Genetic variability in the parasite may also play a role in the differing assay performances seen in this study, and this may be a valuable avenue of further research.
KW - Chagas disease
KW - Chagas disease diagnosis
KW - Congenital Chagas disease
KW - Trypanosoma cruzi
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U2 - 10.3390/tropicalmed7010008
DO - 10.3390/tropicalmed7010008
M3 - Article
C2 - 35051124
AN - SCOPUS:85123783917
SN - 2414-6366
VL - 7
JO - Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
JF - Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
IS - 1
M1 - 8
ER -