[Epidemiological analysis of patients coinfected with Chagas disease and cysticercosis]

Among inhabitants of endemic areas in the developing world, infection with the larva of Taenia solium (cysticercosis) may possibly induce a state of immunosuppression in the host, thereby increasing the risk of multiple infections after exposure to other parasites, such as Trypanosoma cruzi.

Increase in the epidemiological occurrence of infection was assessed for Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease) in patients with cysticercosis.

At the University Hospital in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil, data were obtained from autopsies performed between 1970-2004 on 1,501 subjects older than 15 years of age. Cases were divided into four groups: (1) no infection, (2) cysticercosis only, (3) Chagas disease only, and (4) cysticercosis coinfected with Chagas disease. Race, gender and age data were analyzed.

More than half of the cases showed no infection (848 cases or 56.5%); Chagas disease was found in 611 patients (40.7%); 72 cases (4.8% of the autopsies) had cysticercosis and 30 of them (41.7%) were co-infected with Chagas disease. White race and male gender were predominant in all groups. The youngest median age was found in the non-infected group (46 years), followed by those with Chagas disease without cysticercosis (49 years) and those coinfected with cysticercosis and Chagas disease (57.5 years).

Presumably, all patients had a similar exposure to both parasites. However, in this study population, Chagas disease was approximately 10 times more frequent in patients coinfected with cysticercosis.