The clinical, social and occupational aspects of Chagas disease in an endemic area under the control of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Among 301 construction workers examined in Bambuí, Brasil, 11.6% presented positive serology for American trypanosomiasis, with a prevalence of 5.0% in the age group 17-29 years, 13.8% in the 30-39 and 39.4% in the 40-57. Electrocardiographic disturbances were detected in 31.3% of the seropositive and in 7.1% of the seronegative individuals, with a significant difference in the age group 40-57 years. Cardiac enlargement and esophagopathy were detected respectively in 8.6% and 8.6% of the positive and 1.5% and 0.8% of the negative group. Chagasic and non-Chagasic individuals came from the same region and social status, but the seropositive group was more associated with low scholarship and immediate antecedent of rural activities. The effectiveness of the programme of vector control installed in the Region in the years 1970 is once more confirmed by its positive impact on the prevalence and morbidity of human Chagas disease. Congenital and transfusional Chagas disease seem to play a very small epidemiologic role in the Region at the present time.