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Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil

Although Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, has been associated with social vulnerability worldwide, producing disability and mortality, no study to date has assessed this protozoal infection in persons experiencing homelessness. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess anti-T. cruzi...

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Autores principales: Kmetiuk, Louise Bach, Gonçalves, Gustavo, Chechia Do Couto, Anahi, Biondo, Alexander Welker, Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935667
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1125028
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author Kmetiuk, Louise Bach
Gonçalves, Gustavo
Chechia Do Couto, Anahi
Biondo, Alexander Welker
Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges
author_facet Kmetiuk, Louise Bach
Gonçalves, Gustavo
Chechia Do Couto, Anahi
Biondo, Alexander Welker
Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges
author_sort Kmetiuk, Louise Bach
collection PubMed
description Although Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, has been associated with social vulnerability worldwide, producing disability and mortality, no study to date has assessed this protozoal infection in persons experiencing homelessness. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess anti-T. cruzi antibodies by Wiener Chagatest ELISA recombinant v.3.0 in serum samples of persons experiencing homelessness and related shelter workers in São Paulo, a city with reported vectors but no recent autochthonous case report. Overall, seropositivity to T. cruzi resulted in three of 203 (1.5%) persons experiencing homelessness and two of 87 (2.3%) shelter workers, with similar seroprevalence likely associated with their past social vulnerability. Although the seropositivity in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers was within 0 to 25.1% seroprevalence for chronic Chagas disease in the general Brazilian population, the disease has almost decreased 2-fold from the 1980s to 2000s, and such a wide range may not reflect the local disease status. In addition, the authors hypothesized that the similar seroprevalence and exposure between homeless persons and shelter workers herein may be more associated with shared past and present low-income social vulnerability than migratory movements, which may also include infection by sharing injecting drugs, vertical transmission, or blood transfusion. Thus, future studies are needed to confirm the active transmission of Chagas disease in São Paulo city. Moreover, Chagas disease should be considered as differential diagnosis in homeless persons and shelter workers, even in major disease-free Brazilian or other worldwide cities, mostly due to early exposure and vulnerable living conditions.
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spelling pubmed-100228152023-03-18 Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil Kmetiuk, Louise Bach Gonçalves, Gustavo Chechia Do Couto, Anahi Biondo, Alexander Welker Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges Front Public Health Public Health Although Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, has been associated with social vulnerability worldwide, producing disability and mortality, no study to date has assessed this protozoal infection in persons experiencing homelessness. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess anti-T. cruzi antibodies by Wiener Chagatest ELISA recombinant v.3.0 in serum samples of persons experiencing homelessness and related shelter workers in São Paulo, a city with reported vectors but no recent autochthonous case report. Overall, seropositivity to T. cruzi resulted in three of 203 (1.5%) persons experiencing homelessness and two of 87 (2.3%) shelter workers, with similar seroprevalence likely associated with their past social vulnerability. Although the seropositivity in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers was within 0 to 25.1% seroprevalence for chronic Chagas disease in the general Brazilian population, the disease has almost decreased 2-fold from the 1980s to 2000s, and such a wide range may not reflect the local disease status. In addition, the authors hypothesized that the similar seroprevalence and exposure between homeless persons and shelter workers herein may be more associated with shared past and present low-income social vulnerability than migratory movements, which may also include infection by sharing injecting drugs, vertical transmission, or blood transfusion. Thus, future studies are needed to confirm the active transmission of Chagas disease in São Paulo city. Moreover, Chagas disease should be considered as differential diagnosis in homeless persons and shelter workers, even in major disease-free Brazilian or other worldwide cities, mostly due to early exposure and vulnerable living conditions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10022815/ /pubmed/36935667 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1125028 Text en Copyright © 2023 Kmetiuk, Gonçalves, Chechia Do Couto, Biondo and Figueiredo. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Kmetiuk, Louise Bach
Gonçalves, Gustavo
Chechia Do Couto, Anahi
Biondo, Alexander Welker
Figueiredo, Fabiano Borges
Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title_full Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title_fullStr Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title_full_unstemmed Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title_short Serosurvey of Trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of Brazil
title_sort serosurvey of trypanosoma cruzi in persons experiencing homelessness and shelter workers of brazil
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022815/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935667
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1125028
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