Juan Marques et al. Iván Mendoza Belkisyolé Noya Harry Acquatella … Igor Palacios María Marques-Mejias
BACKGROUND: Chagas disease affects more than 15 million people worldwide. Although vector-borne transmission has decreased, oral transmission has become important. Recently, our group published the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the largest outbreak of orally transmitted Chagas disease reported till date. OBJECTIVE: To describe electrocardiographic changes occurring in the study population during the outbreak caused by ingestion of contaminated guava juice. METHODS: We evaluated 103 positive cases, of which 76 (74%) were aged 18 years (average age: 46 ± 11.8 years). All patients underwent clinical evaluations and ECG. If the patients had palpitations or evident alterations of rhythm at baseline, ambulatory ECG monitoring was performed. RESULTS: A total of 68 cases (66%; 53 children and 15 adults) had ECG abnormalities. Further, 69.7% (53/76) of those aged 18 years showed some ECG alteration (p = ns). ST-T abnormalities were observed in 37.86% cases (39/103) and arrhythmias were evident in 28.16% cases (29/103). ST alterations occurred in 72% of those aged 18 years (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study reports the largest number of cases in the same outbreak of acute Chagas disease caused by oral contamination, with recorded ECGs. ECG changes suggestive of acute myocarditis and arrhythmias were the most frequent abnormalities found.