Abstract

DEL VALLE PUGLIESE ULIARTE, Dora et al. Acute miocarditis and meningoencephalitis caused by Trypanosoma cruzi in an HIV-seropositive patient. Rev Cubana Med Trop [online]. 2014, vol.66, n.3, pp. 458-464. ISSN 0375-0760.

Chagas disease, endemic in Argentina, goes through two stages: acute and chronic. In VIH seropositive patients, Trypanosomacruzi affects those with severe immunodeficiency; it is mainly located in the central nervous system and less frequently in the myocardium. Distinction between acute myocarditis and chronic infection reactivation is not simple. Low T CD4+ lymphocyte count is a positive predictive factor of reactivation. In patients with advanced immunodeficiency, negative results of serological tests do not exclude diagnosis of Chagas disease which may bre confirmed through the application of direct methods in blood and cerebrospinal fluid. The case of a VIH infected patient who got the disease through vertical transmission with severe immunodeficiency, acute myocarditis and central nervous system damage. Positive parasitemia and parasitorrachya for T. cruzi established the association between these symptoms and Chagas disease.

Keywords : Chagas; tripanosomiasis; AIDS; reactivation; myocarditis; meningoencephalitis.

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