Persistent infections in chronic Chagas'disease patients treated with anti-Trypanosoma cruzi nitroderivatives
Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. Säo Paulo
;
42(3): 157-61, May-Jun. 2000. ilus, tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-262695
ABSTRACT
We used a molecular method and demonstrated that treatment of the chronic human Trypanosoma cruzi infections with nitroderivatives did not lead to parasitological cure. Seventeen treated and 17 untreated chronic Chagas' disease patients, with at least two out of three positive serologic assays for the infection, and 17 control subjects formed the study groups. PCR assays with nested sets of T. cruzi DNA primers monitored the efficacy of treatment. The amplification products were hybridized to their complementary internal sequences. Untreated and treated Chagas' disease patients yielded PCR amplification products with T. cruzi nuclear DNA primers. Competitive PCR was conducted to determine the quantity of parasites in the blood and revealed < 1 to 75 T. cruzi/ml in untreated (means 25.83 +/- 26.32) and < 1 to 36 T. cruzi/ml in treated (means 6.45 +/- 9.28) Chagas' disease patients. The difference between the means was not statistically significant. These findings reveal a need for precise definition of the role of treatment of chronic Chagas'disease patients with nitrofuran and nitroimidazole compounds.
Full text:
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Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Main subject:
Trypanocidal Agents
/
Trypanosoma cruzi
/
Chagas Disease
/
Nifurtimox
/
Nitroimidazoles
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. Säo Paulo
Journal subject:
Tropical Medicine
Year:
2000
Type:
Article
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