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The impact of Chagas disease is no longer restricted to endemic areas. The aim of this study is to evaluate a 2-year period of a vertical transmission screening program of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a tertiary care hospital in Barcelona (Spain). Two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (recombinant and crude antigen) were performed in parallel to pregnant women at risk of T. cruzi infection. Discordant results were confirmed by a third diagnostic test. In the case of a positive result, the newborn was tested at birth and after 8 months of life. A total of 1,473 women met the inclusion criteria for the screening program with a resulting seroprevalence for T. cruzi of 3.5% (2.2–5.2% 95% confidence interval [95% CI]). One case of congenital infection was identified. Screening programs for vertically transmitted T. cruzi acute infection are beneficial in non-endemic areas for early detection and treatment of acute infection.
Financial support: There was no dedicated funding for this project.
Authors' addresses: Susana Otero, Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, E-mail: sotero@vhebron.net. Elena Sulleiro, Department of Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, E-mail: esulleir@vhebron.net. Israel Molina, Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, E-mail: imolina@vhebron.net. Maria Espiau, Andrea Martín-Nalda, and Concepción Figueras, Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiencies Unit, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, E-mails: mariaespiau@hotmail.com, andmartin@vhebron.net, and cfiguera@vhebron.net. Anna Suy, Department of Ginecoloy and Obstetrics, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, E-mail: anna.suy@gmail.com.