title: [Comparison of the frequency of electrocardiographic changes in groups of apparently healthy persons with a positive serology for Chagas' disease, for toxoplasmosis or for both parasitoses].
abstract: In order to compare the frequency of electrocardiographical abnormalities among apparently healthy persons with Trypanosoma cruzi and Toxoplasma gondii infections, electrocardiogram (EKG) and the corresponding indirect hemagglutination tests (IHAT) were performed to 13,444 randomly selected rural and suburban inhabitants from the seven first regions of Chile which are located in the geographic area of distribution of Chagas' disease in the country. The IHAT for each parasitosis resulted positive (titers > or = 1:16) for Chagas' disease alone in 1,289 (9.6%), for toxoplasmosis alone in 3,519 (26.2%) and for the two infections in 994 (7.4%). EKG abnormalities of all type (AAT) and suggestive of a chagasic etiology (ASChE) were found in 18.5 and 8.3% respectively of the T. cruzi infected group, in 10.9 and 3.2% of the T. gondii infected group, in 18.9 and 4.8% of the group simultaneously infected by the two parasites, whereas AAT and ASChE were found in 7.9 and 1.8% of the IHAT negative group. All the corresponding percentage differences between abnormal EKG had a statistical significance (p < 0.05). Besides the increasing of the IHAT positivity, for each infection parallels to the age grouping of the studied persons, a similar situation was observed in the frequence of the AAT and ASChE mainly among people aged > or = 50 years. As T. cruzi and T. gondii infections sometimes isoletely adopt a high virulence and overlap in a proportion higher than 43.0% in Chagas' disease endemic areas, it is advisable to consider these etiologic possibilities in the presence of patients with a myocardiopathy of dubious interpretation, particularly when AIDS is involved.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schenone
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salinas
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sandoval
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Olea
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Solís
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Villarroel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*
vernacular_title: Comparación de la frecuencia de alteraciones electrocardiográficas en grupos de personas aparentemente sanas con serología positiva para enfermedad de Chagas, para toxoplasmosis o para ambas parasitosis.