Prenatal Screening for Chagas Disease in the Province of Guadalajara, Spain

TL;DR

This study examines prenatal screening for Chagas disease in Guadalajara, Spain, finding low screening rates and no vertical transmission among Bolivian women.

Contribution

The study provides insights into Chagas disease screening practices and prevalence in a non-endemic region with high case numbers.

Findings

Only 18.7% of pregnant women from endemic countries were screened for Chagas disease.

The disease prevalence among screened women was 0.95%.

No vertical transmission was observed, but the sample size was too small for conclusive results.

Abstract

Introduction

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. It is endemic in 21 countries in Central and South America. Spain is the only nonendemic country with the highest number of Chagas disease cases outside the Americas. The only transmission mechanism in Spain is vertical transmission.

Materials and methods

We reviewed the records of pregnant women from endemic countries who underwent prenatal care at the Hospital Universitario de Guadalajara, from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2022, to determine the rate of Chagas disease screening and vertical transmission.

Results

Out of a total of 1,681 pregnant women from endemic countries, prenatal screening was conducted on 316 (18.7%) of them. According to our study, the prevalence of the disease in the population of pregnant women from endemic countries is 0.95% with a 95% confidence interval (ranging from 0.32% to 2.75%), with three out of the 316 screened women testing positive for the disease. All positive cases were among Bolivian women. Vertical transmission was not observed in any of the cases. However, because of the small sample size, this study cannot conclusively determine the vertical transmission rate in the province of Guadalajara.

Conclusions

Implementing regulated prenatal screening protocols for Chagas disease at regional or national levels is necessary to increase the rate of prenatal screening. Additionally, increasing awareness of this condition among healthcare professionals and at-risk populations could further improve prenatal screening rates and treatment adherence.

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