[What is not searched, it is difficult to find: Chagas' disease].
A conservative estimation indicates that more than 400 000 Latin American immigrants are living in Italy. Several studies have shown that among these, the prevalence of Chagas disease is between 3.9% and 17%, so it is not unlikely to find a patient with this disease during a cardiology visit. How many patients from Latin America are diagnosed with heart failure in Italy and no one has ever thought about a possible Chagas disease? This brief review describes the situation of the disease in Italy, its characteristics, the etiology of this disease and its treatment. The latter aspect will be discussed considering the recent published results of the BENEFIT study, where it was found that treatment with benznidazole in patients with Chagas' cardiomyopathy is able to reduce significantly the detection of parasites in the blood, but it is not able to prevent clinical deterioration during 5 years of follow-up. The possible implications of these results will be discussed.
Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
Luis
L
Briceno
Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
Walter
W
Mosca
D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D009547:Nifurtimox / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009593:Nitroimidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015995:Prevalence; D013020:South America; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification
D009593:Nitroimidazoles; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents; D009547:Nifurtimox; C009999:benzonidazole