Transfusion-acquired Trypanosoma cruzi infection.
BACKGROUND
A 3(1/2)-year-old girl with Stage 4 neuroblastoma received multiple blood components and was subsequently diagnosed with Chagas disease, which is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi.


METHODS
All blood donors of the units that were transfused were requested to return to the collection facility for a blood sample to be tested for antibodies to T. cruzi.


RESULTS
One first-time donor was found to be positive for the presence of T. cruzi antibodies. This donor was originally from Bolivia and immigrated to the United States 17 years previously. She had not returned to her native country since her emigration.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the seventh reported case of Chagas disease transmission by blood transfusion in the United States and Canada. Although this would not be expected to occur in New England, it did, and this case demonstrates the significance of the immune status of patients as it relates to transfusion-acquired infections, the impact of geographic mobility in disease transmission, and the need for a licensed screening test for Chagas disease for the US blood supply.
Young
Carolyn
C
Rhode Island Blood Center, Brown University, Hasbro Children's Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island 02908, USA. carolyn.young@ribc.org
Losikoff
Phyllis
P
Chawla
Anjulika
A
Glasser
Lewis
L
Forman
Edwin
E
D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi