TY - JOUR
T1 - Case report
T2 - Evidence of Autochthonous chagas disease in Southeastern Texas
AU - Garcia, Melissa N.
AU - Aguilar, David
AU - Gorchakov, Rodion
AU - Rossmann, Susan N.
AU - Montgomery, Susan P.
AU - Rivera, Hilda
AU - Woc-Colburn, Laila
AU - Hotez, Peter J.
AU - Murray, Kristy O.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Autochthonous transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States is rarely reported. Here, we describe five newly identified patients with autochthonously acquired infections from a small pilot study of positive blood donors in southeast Texas. Case-patients 1-4 were possibly infected near their residences, which were all in the same region ∼100 miles west of Houston. Case-patient 5 was a young male with considerable exposure from routine outdoor and camping activities associated with a youth civic organization. Only one of the five autochthonous case-patients received anti-parasitic treatment. Our findings suggest an unrecognized risk of human vector-borne transmission in southeast Texas. Education of physicians and public health officials is crucial for identifying the true disease burden and source of infection in Texas.
AB - Autochthonous transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States is rarely reported. Here, we describe five newly identified patients with autochthonously acquired infections from a small pilot study of positive blood donors in southeast Texas. Case-patients 1-4 were possibly infected near their residences, which were all in the same region ∼100 miles west of Houston. Case-patient 5 was a young male with considerable exposure from routine outdoor and camping activities associated with a youth civic organization. Only one of the five autochthonous case-patients received anti-parasitic treatment. Our findings suggest an unrecognized risk of human vector-borne transmission in southeast Texas. Education of physicians and public health officials is crucial for identifying the true disease burden and source of infection in Texas.
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U2 - 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0238
DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0238
M3 - Article
C2 - 25371187
AN - SCOPUS:84922309888
SN - 0002-9637
VL - 92
SP - 325
EP - 330
JO - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 2
ER -
