Epidemiological analysis of cases of acute Chagas Disease in Brazil between 2007 and 2022

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1594442413053

• Palavras-chave: Chagas Disease, Epidemiology, Brazil

• Keywords: Chagas Disease, Epidemiology, Brazil

• Abstract:

  Discovered and described by researcher Carlos Chagas in 1909, Chagas disease is an infection transmissible vectorially, orally, vertically or accidentally, which represents a social and public health problem to this day.
  The acute phase generally occurs in children between 1 and 5 years of age, with systemic signs and symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, edema, lymphadenopathy, tachycardia disproportionate to fever (Faget's sign), hepatic and splenomegaly, Romaña's sign, between others. In rare cases, they manifest with myocarditis or meningoencephalitis.

  The indeterminate chronic phase represents 70 to 80% of cases, with patients being asymptomatic for 5 to 30 years, with normal exams or nonspecific changes, but with positive serology for Chagas. In 20 to 30% of cases, the disease progresses with manifestations of the digestive tract, such as megaesophagus or megacolon, or of the myocardium with chagasic cardiomyopathy. This is called the chronic phase of Chagas disease.

  The digestive form presents with odynophagia, dysphagia, malnutrition and regurgitation. The cardiac form progresses with dilated cardiomyopathy, heart failure, complex arrhythmias and risk of sudden death. Therefore, every infected individual progress to the chronic phase, whether symptomatic (cardiac and/or digestive) or undetermined (asymptomatic). And, in the Brazilian scenario, it stands out as the fourth cause of death among infectious and parasitic diseases in age groups over 45 years old.

  In view of the above, this work is a descriptive and retrospective epidemiological study, using secondary data on the number of confirmed cases of acute Chagas Disease in Brazil between the years 2007 and 2022, as well as the forms of infection, outcome, federative state of cases and sex of individuals affected in the same period. The information was obtained by consulting SINAN (Notifiable Diseases Information System) made available by the Information Technology Department of the Unified Health System (DATASUS), at the electronic address (http://www.datasus.gov.br).