[Paediatric Chagas in a non-endemic area].
BACKGROUND
Immigration has introduced new diseases into Spanish society, one of which is Chagas disease. Young women of childbearing age and children infected with Trypanosoma cruzi from endemic areas are at risk of developing the disease years later, and pregnant women can transmit the infection through the placenta.


METHODS
Serological screening for anti-T.cruzi antibodies was performed on all immigrant children coming from a Chagas endemic area and seen in our Pathology Unit between 2003 and 2008, as well as on newborns of T.cruzi positive infected pregnant women coming from Latin America. Two ELISA tests were used (bioelisa Chagas Biokit® with recombinant antigens, and an 'in house' ELISA with crude antigen). Patients with sufficient sample were also screened by nested PCR (TCZ3/Z4).


RESULTS
A total of 202 children, aged 1 day to 14 years old were included in the study, of whom 22 (10.8%) were diagnosed with asymptomatic infection, 5 of which were congenital as they were born in this country. All infected patients received treatment with benznidazole, with three of them currently with a serologically negative result after treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Chagas disease is a new imported paediatric disease that can affect children from endemic countries, but can also be acquired in our country by vertical transmission. Therefore, we believe that it is essential to perform serological screening on all children and pregnant women in the prenatal care from endemic areas, and provide specific treatment for those infected patients, given the good results observed in the paediatric population.
Servicio de Pediatría, Unidad de Medicina Importada, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, España.
Victoria
V
Fumadó
Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: tjuncosa@hsjdbcn.org.
Teresa
T
Juncosa
Diago Centre de Recerca en Salut Internacional de Barcelona (CRESIB), Barcelona, España.
Elizabet
E
Posada
Laboratorio de Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Roser
R
Fisa
Laboratorio de Parasitología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
Montserrat
M
Gállego
Diago Centre de Recerca en Salut Internacional de Barcelona (CRESIB), Barcelona, España.
Joaquim
J
Gascón
D000293:Adolescent; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009593:Nitroimidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013030:Spain; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use
D009593:Nitroimidazoles; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents; C009999:benzonidazole
Benznidazol; Benznidazole; Chagas pediátrico; Congenital infection; ELISA; Infección congénita; PCR; Paediatrics Chagas