The Authors detected the acute stage of Chagas'diseasein seven immunosuppressedpatients, following renal transplantation. The outstanding clinical and diagnostic features seen in these patients were as follows: fever was an important clinical sign of disease; the direct microscopic demonstration of Trypanosoma cruzi in the buffy layer of blood samples yielded positive results; immunofluorescent IgM antibodies may befound in sera; no lymph node enlargement was noticed on clinical examination and lymphocytosis was not seen on blood smears. The clinical course of the disease was not severe, although this could in part be due to treatment with benznidazole. The immunoppressive therapy could be maintained and no damage occurred to the transplanted organ.
Chagas' disease; Acute stage; Renal transplantation; Immunosuppression