Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33272201›Full record

ArticleBMC infectious diseases2020

Describing nearly two decades of Chagas disease in Germany and the lessons learned: a retrospective study on screening, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of Trypanosoma cruzi infection from 2000 - 2018.

Jessica Michelle Guggenbühl Noller, Guenter Froeschl, Philip Eisermann, Johannes Jochum, Stefanie Theuring, Ingrid Reiter-Owona, Alfred Lennart Bissinger, Michael Hoelscher, Abhishek Bakuli, Franz-Josef Falkner von Sonnenburg and 5 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Guideline
  2. Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Evaluation of Anti-Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023
    Article
  6. Chagas Disease in Europe.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023
    Review
  7. The roles of COX-2 in protozoan infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2023
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Jessica Michelle Guggenbühl NollerDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Guenter FroeschlDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. froeschl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2743-7555
Philip EisermannNational Reference Centre for Tropical Pathogens, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
Johannes JochumDepartment of Tropical Medicine, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine & I. Department of Medicine, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Stefanie TheuringInstitute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Ingrid Reiter-OwonaInstitute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Alfred Lennart BissingerInstitute of Tropical Medicine, Medical Department, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Michael HoelscherDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Abhishek BakuliDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Franz-Josef Falkner von SonnenburgDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Camilla RotheDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Gisela BretzelDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Pedro Albajar-ViñasDepartment of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Lise GroutDepartment of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Michael PritschDivision of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
LMU Klinikum · DEWorld Health Organization · CHBernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine · DEHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DEUniversität Hamburg · DEUniversity Hospital Bonn · DE

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe highly complex and largely neglected Chagas disease (CD) has become a global health problem due to population movements between Latin America and non-endemic countries, as well as non-vectorial transmission routes. Data on CD testing and treatment from routine patient care in Germany of almost two decades was collected and analysed.

methodsGerman laboratories offering diagnostics for chronic Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infection in routine patient care were identified. All retrievable data on tests performed during the years of 2000-2018 were analysed. Additional clinical information regarding patients diagnosed with CD was collected through questionnaires.

resultsFive German laboratories with diagnostics for T. cruzi infection in routine patient care were identified. Centres in Hamburg and Munich offered two independent serological tests to confirm the CD diagnosis, as recommended by WHO during the entire time period 2000-2018. Overall, a total of n = 10,728 independent tests involving n = 5991 individuals were identified with a progressive increase in testing rates over time, only n = 130 (16.0%) of the tested individuals with known nationality came from CD endemic countries. Of all test units conducted at the included institutes, a total of n = 347/10,728 (3.2%) tests on CD were positive, of which n = 200/347 (57.6%) were ELISA, n = 133/347 (38.3%) IFT, n = 10/347 (2.9%) PCR, and n = 4/347 (1.2%) RDT. Of the n = 5991 individuals only n = 81 (1.4%) with chronic infection were identified, n = 52 females and n = 28 males. Additional clinical information could only be collected from n = 47.

conclusionThe results of this study give insight into the deployment of screening, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of T. cruzi over the last two decades in Germany and existing deficits therein; the creation of guidelines for Germany could be a step forward to improve the existing gaps.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultChagas DiseaseDiagnostic Tests, RoutineEmigrants and ImmigrantsEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent AssayFemaleFollow-Up StudiesGermanyHumansMaleMass ScreeningMiddle AgedNeglected DiseasesPolymerase Chain ReactionRetrospective StudiesChagasDiagnosisGermanyScreeningTreatmentTrypanosoma cruzi

Identifiers

PMID33272201
PMCPMC7713040
OpenAlexW3107625152

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.