Prevalence of Chagas disease in pregnant women and incidence of congenital transmission in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

Congenital transmission of Chagas disease stand out as a major public health problem since the vector control was performed in all endemic areas and has shown its effectiveness. An epidemiological study was performed in three maternity hospitals of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia from 2006 to 2008. The serological screening for Trypanosoma cruzi infection was carried out in 15,767 pregnant women. Chagas infection was detected in 3725 women (23.6%), who gave birth to 125 newborns infected by T. cruzi at birth, representing an incidence of 790 per 100,000 births during a period of 16 months and a vertical transmission rate by 3.4%. There was a significant difference between hospitals that might be explained by socio-economic origins of mothers and diagnostic constraints.