title: Epidemiology of Chagas disease in Europe: many calculations, little knowledge.
abstract: Chagas disease and its causative agent Trypanosoma cruzi are endemic in almost all countries in South and Middle America. Currently, there are more than 10 million affected people. It is the most common reason for heart failure and a frequent cause of intestinal problems in Latin America. The phenotype of the Chagas cardiomyopathy is varying. Dilative cardiomyopathy, often accompanied by an apical aneurysm is the most common finding in the end stage heart failure, but rhythm disorders like conduction blocks, ventricular or supraventricular forms of tachycardia or repolarization changes occur as well, mainly in the early stages. Migration of infected people leads to a distribution from the endemic countries to North America and Europe. Although more than 500,000 people of Latin American origin are currently living in Europe, Chagas disease is not considered as a public health problem, yet. Cases of transmission via blood donation, organ transplantation or from mother-to-child are reported for several European countries but there is no database for Germany. Current epidemiological data are mostly available from regional surveys from other countries or are extrapolated. Hence, there is a large variation in the estimated numbers on the incidence of Chagas. Robust and reliable data are lacking. This review gives an overview on the currently available data and calls for a German Chagas surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Clinic for Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, strasen_j@medizin.uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strasen
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ertl
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zoller
authors.forename: August
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stich
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ritter
mesh_terms: D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000472:pathogenicity*