Observational studyThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene2021
HIV and Chagas Disease: An Evaluation of the Use of Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction to Measure Levels of Trypanosoma cruzi Parasitemia in HIV Patients in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Observational study in The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- The epidemiology and clinical features of HIV and Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease) co-infection: A systematic review and individual patient data analysis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Pooled it
- The Global Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Parasitic Coinfection in People Living with Viruses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Chagas Disease: An Opportunistic Infection in AIDS.Current infectious disease reports · 2026Article
- The epidemiology of Chagas disease in the Americas.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2024Review
- Chagas disease in immunocompromised patients.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Adaptation of Chagas Disease Screening Recommendations for a Community of At-risk HIV in the United States.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- Quantitative PCR as a marker for preemptive therapy and its role in therapeutic control in Trypanosoma cruzi/HIV coinfection.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Multiple myeloma and Chagas disease: qPCR as a marker for preemptive antiparasitic therapy: a case reports series and review.Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo · 2024Article
- Article
- Prevalence ofEpidemiology and infection · 2023Article
- Article
- Parasitemia Levels in Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Spain, an Area Where the Disease Is Not Endemic: Trends by Different Molecular Approaches.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Aplastic Anemia and Chagas Disease:Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Screening for Chagas Disease Should Be Included in Entry-to-Care Testing for At-Risk People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Living in the United States.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2022Article
- Epidemiological-clinical profile and mortality in patients coinfected with Trypanosoma cruzi/HIV: experience from a Brazilian reference center.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2022Observational
- Anaphylactic Reactions Due toInsects · 2021Article
- Chagas Disease in People with HIV: A Narrative Review.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2021Review
- Chagas Disease in HIV-Infected Patients: It's Time to Consider the Diagnosis.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2021Article
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13 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
This cross-sectional study evaluated epidemiologic characteristics of persons living with HIV (PWH) coinfected with Trypanosoma cruzi in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and estimated T. cruzi parasitemia by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in patients with and without evidence of reactivation by direct microscopy. Thirty-two of the 116 HIV patients evaluated had positive serology for T. cruzi indicative of chronic Chagas disease (27.6%). Sixteen of the 32 (50%) patients with positive serology were positive by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and four of the 32 (12.5%) were positive by direct microscopy. The median parasite load by qPCR in those with CD4+ < 200 was 168 parasites/mL (73-9951) compared with 28.5 parasites/mL (15-1,528) in those with CD4+ ≥ 200 (P = 0.89). There was a significant inverse relationship between the degree of parasitemia estimated by qPCR from blood clot and CD4+ count on the logarithmic scale (rsBC= -0.70, P = 0.007). The correlation between T. cruzi estimated by qPCR+ blood clot and HIV viral load was statistically significant with rsBC = 0.61, P = 0.047. Given the significant mortality of PWH and Chagas reactivation and that 57% of our patients with CD4+ counts < 200 cells/mm3 showed evidence of reactivation, we propose that screening for chronic Chagas disease be considered in PWH in regions endemic for Chagas disease and in the immigrant populations in nonendemic regions. Additionally, our study showed that PWH with advancing immunosuppression have higher levels of estimated parasitemia measured by qPCR and suggests a role for active surveillance for Chagas reactivation with consideration of treatment with antitrypanosomal therapy until immune reconstitution can be achieved.
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