Chagas disease as a cause of symptomatic chronic myocardopathy in Mexican children.

We report the first case series of children in Mexico living with symptomatic Chagas disease causing chronic myocardopathy. The findings suggest that children with Chagas disease may develop symptomatic chronic myocardopathy earlier than previously recognized. Our findings emphasize the importance of longitudinal cardiologic follow-up of all children identified with acute Chagas disease.In a cohort of 826 children from the state of Queretaro in Mexico, 11 were identified with positive serology (ELISA and IFI) for Chagas and were tested for electrocardiogram alterations and symptoms and signs. Four children had ECG alterations with 3 of these reporting signs and symptoms associated with the chronic phase of Chagas disease (27%; 95% CI: 6%-61%). The most common chronic symptom was chest pain, with one child also reporting dyspnea and tachycardia.