[Factors and mechanisms involved in the transmission and development of congenital infection with Trypanosoma cruzi]

Abstract

This paper synthesizes the results obtained from multidisciplinary studies of Bolivian cases of congenital infection with T. cruzi. Congenital infection and congenital Chagas disease do not result from transmission of a particular strain of parasite, but from an equilibrium between complex phenomena, such as a weak maternal type 1 adaptative immune response associated with high maternal parasitemia, an invasion of placental chorion and umbilical cord by parasites, in front of a fetal T. cruzi-specific immune response characterized by an activation of cytotoxic CD8 T cells producing IFN-gamma and able to limit parasite multiplication and morbi-mortality of congenital Chagas disease.