Chagas disease travels to Europe

In his Correspondence letter, Ricardo Pereira Igreja revisits the impor tance of Chagas disease 100 years after its discovery. Immigration from South America to Europe is increasing, so European countries are now facing some neglected diseases they are not used to dealing with. 97·5% of Bolivians who emigrate to Europe (the most popular desti nation after the USA) settle in Spain. The prevalence of Chagas disease in Bolivia is 20–40%. We have been assessing the prevalence of Chagas disease in Bolivian pregnant women in our Spanish hospital for the past 2 years and have found a 17·7% rate (71/401), with a 1·4% vertical transmission rate (1/71). Chagas disease has been included in the routine assessment for LatinAmerican blood donors in Spain since 2005, but no national screening protocol for pregnant woman has been established. Because of the noted high prevalence of Chagas disease in Bolivian pregnant women in Spain, we suggest that all such women should be screened. Early treatment of infected children could avoid most of the severe complications associated with this disease. Furthermore, identifi cation of the mothers would allow treatment of this group and could off er them a better life expectancy.