STUDY OF MATERNAL RISK FACTORS AND THE INCIDENCE OF CONGENITAL CHAGAS IN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

VANRELL M. C.; GIAI C.; SALASSA B.N.; RIVERO C. V.; MUÑOZ L. I.; ROMANO P.S.

Londres

Conferencia; 5th International Conference on Applied Microbiology and Beneficial Microbes; 2023

STUDY OF MATERNAL RISK FACTORS AND THE INCIDENCE OF CONGENITAL CHAGAS IN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA Vanrell MC, Giai C, Salassa BN, Rivero C, Muñoz LI and Romano PS Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina Abstract Background: Congenital Chagas disease is the most frequent type of acute infection by Trypanosoma cruzi in Argentina nowadays, and is responsible for the generation of new cases, which can affect over 1,300 children each year. Early detection in newborns is critical because the cure rate is nearly 100% if treated in the first years of life. It is unknown what factors favor congenital transmission from infected mothers to their children. Objective: To investigate the maternal risk factors that contribute to the transmission of congenital Chagas disease in the city of Mendoza, Argentina.Methods: Pregnant women with Chagas positive serology who consented to participate in the study were interviewed and completed a survey with data on age, nationality, blood group, chronic conditions, and number of pregnancies. The presence of T. cruzi was detected and quantified in blood samples taken from the mothers and newborns using endpoint PCR and a commercial quantitative qPCR kit. In addition, we used an “in house” qPCR protocol developed in our laboratory.Results: The three approaches detected T. cruzi in 40% of newborn patients. 75% were children of Bolivian mothers who gave birth naturally. Positive infants, interestingly, corresponded to the third (or last) child of women aged 29 to 38. Furthermore, 25% of mothers with positive children had consid erable parasitic load, while the rest had pathologies including thyroid problems, asthma and gestational diabetes, despite the fact that these illnesses were also present in other patients who did not show transmission.Conclusion: When compared to direct parasitological procedures employed in hospitals, the introduc tion of molecular approaches has improved child diagnosis. The relationship between maternal parasite burden and illness transmission is notable; yet, there have been cases of transmission in mothers with low parasite burdens in which the correlation with other diseases, number of pregnancies, and country appears to be important. More research will be required in the future to confirm this last observation.