About 20 to 30% of people with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection eventually develop clinical disease, predominantly cardiac. Cardiac disease usually begins with conduction abnormalities such as right bundle branch block and/or left anterior fascicular block, which may be followed years later by dilated cardiomyopathy. Later cardiac disease is sometimes accompanied by apical aneurysm and thrombus formation.

Less frequently, patients with Chagas disease experience gastrointestinal disease (megasyndromes). Once the characteristic pathology is established (e.g., dilated cardiomyopathy, megaesophagus), antiparasitic treatment will not reverse it.

• Diagnosis
• Newly Diagnosed Patients
• Antiparasitic Treatment

Guidance for Evaluation and Treatment

For more detailed information on evaluation and treatment, this link provides free access to a recent review article:

• Evaluation and Treatment of Chagas Disease in the United States: A Systematic Review (JAMA 2007: 298:2171-81)*
• Screening and Treatment of Chagas Disease in Organ Transplant Recipients in the United States: Recommendations from the Chagas in Transplant Working Group (American Journal of Transplantation, 2011: 672–680)