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Abstract: Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a public health problem in Latin America. This parasite displays a high genetic diversity evidenced in six Discrete Typing Units (DTUs) namely TcI–TcVI. The aim of this study was to observe the temporal variation of the DTUs in asymptomatic patients at three different times (10 days interval). The results showed that intermittence is the rule in the bloodstream of Chagas disease patients. The patients showed different detectable DTUs with short time intervals, which favors the clonal histiotropic model and the multiclonality structure of this parasite. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common autoimmune arthropathy worldwide. The increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in RA is not fully explained by classic risk factors. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of rs1058587 SNP within GDF15(MIC1) gene on the risk of CVD in a Colombian RA population., Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study in which 310 consecutive Colombian patients with RA and 228 age- and sex-matched controls were included and assessed for variables associated with CVD. The mixed cluster methodology based on multivariate descriptive methods such as principal components analysis and multiple correspondence analyses and regression tree (CART) predictive model were performed., Results: Of the 310 patients, 87.4% were women and CVD was reported in 69.5%. Significant differences concerning GDF15 polymorphism were not observed between patients and controls. Mean arterial pressure, current smoking, and some clusters were significantly associated with CVD., Conclusion: GDF15 (rs1058587) does not influence the development of CVD in the population studied.

Chagas disease or American trypanosomiasis is a pathology affecting about 8-11 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America, more than 300 000 persons in the United States as well as an indeterminate number of people in other non-endemic countries such as USA, Spain, Canada and Switzerland. The aetiological agent is Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan transmitted by multiple routes; among them, congenital route emerges as one of the most important mechanisms of spreading Chagas disease worldwide even in non-endemic countries and the oral route as the responsible of multiple outbreaks of acute Chagas disease in regions where the vectorial route has been interrupted. The aim of this review is to illustrate the recent research and advances in host-pathogen interaction making a model of how the virulence factors of the parasite would interact with the physiology and immune system components of the placental barrier and gastrointestinal tract in order to establish a response against T. cruzi infection. This review also presents the epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic features of congenital and oral Chagas disease in order to update the reader about the emerging scenarios of Chagas disease transmission.