Abstract
An epidemiological survey was done by examining 1084 inhabitants in a rural area of Guatemala to determine the prevalence of seropositivity to Trypanosoma cruzi as well as the association with chagasic cardiomyopathy. Results of the survey revealed that Chagas disease is endemic in this area because 77 (7.1%) of the inhabitants examined by an indirect hemagglutination test were seropositive to T. cruzi. The age-prevalence distribution showed that seropositivity increased with age. Analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed a significantly high frequency of ventricular conduction defects and arrhythmias among the seropositives. Ventricular conduction defects were observed in 18.2% of the seropositives and 1.7% of the seronegatives, and arrhythmias were 15.6% and 2.7%, respectively. In seropositive individuals, the most common alteration of ventricular conduction defects was right bundle branch block with or without fascicular block and that of arrhythmias was ventricular premature contraction. Among the seropositives, the prevalence of the above ECG abnormalities was low in the 40-59 age group, which may be accounted for the death due to chagastic cardiomyopathy. These results suggest that this study area is an endemic area to Chagas disease, and the infection is associated with ECG alterations.
