[Chronic Chagasic Cardiomyopathy at the Hospital General de Zona no. 24 IMSS. Poza Rica, Veracruz].
Northern Veracruz has conditions, biotic and abiotic, to support Triatomine bugs and vectorial transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi to human beings. Therefore we explore seroprevalence of antibodies to this parasite and the presence of Chronic Chagasic Cardiopathy (CCC) at Cardiology ward in a General Hospital serving North of Veracruz State, and neighbord states Hidalgo, Puebla San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas.


METHODS
We search for consecutive adult patients attending outpatient and beds assigned to Cardiology between March through September, 2003. An epidemiology questionnaire, clinical work up, chest roentgenogram, 12 lead peripheral EKG and transthoracic echocardiogram were performed in 240 female/males patients. All of them were bled to blindly search for T. cruzi antibodies.


RESULTS
Seroprevalence was 8%, 49 cases of dilated cardiomyopathy were diagnosed 23 attributed to chronic diseases such as systemic hypertension diabetes mellitus or ischemic heart disease 12 with idiopathic disease and 14 (29%) had CCC. The latter accumulated epidemiologic features suggestive of vectorial infection. Four additional individuals without CCC but having specific antibodies were considered indeterminate Chagasic cases.


CONCLUSIONS
This case series identify American Trypanosomiasis among 19 people attending a Cardiology Service, and 14 of them had a severe heart disease linked to progressive and fatal course. This observation points out that Chagas disease could be a regional public health problem in Northern Veracruz.
Olivera-Mar
Amonario
A
Hospital General de Zona # 24 IMSS, Poza Rica.
Hernández-Vicencio
Catalina
C
Camacho-Marie
Margarita
M
Hernández-Becerril
Nidia
N
Monteón-Padilla
Víctor M
VM
Vallejo
Maite
M
Reyes
Pedro A
PA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000276:immunology*
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan