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Case Reports
. 2025 Jun 2:58:e008022025.
doi: 10.1590/0037-8682-0419-2024. eCollection 2025.

Quantitative PCR for parasitemia monitoring and preemptive therapy in patients with Chagas disease and autoimmune rheumatic disorders undergoing biologic treatment: a case series

Noemia Barbosa Carvalho  1 , Vera Lucia Teixeira de Freitas  2   3 , Nadia Emi Aikawa  4 , Lucas Teixeira Vieira  2 , Rita Cristina Bezerra  5 , Adriana Coraccini Tonácio de Proença  1 , Karina Bonfiglioli  4 , Érika Yoshie Shimoda Nakanishi  3 , Hermes Ryoiti Higashino  1 , Maria Aparecida Shikanai-Yasuda  2   3
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Case Reports

Quantitative PCR for parasitemia monitoring and preemptive therapy in patients with Chagas disease and autoimmune rheumatic disorders undergoing biologic treatment: a case series

Noemia Barbosa Carvalho et al. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. .

Abstract

Patients with chronic Chagas disease (CD) and autoimmune rheumatic disorders (ARD) receiving immunosuppressive therapy are at risk for CD reactivation (CDR). This study monitored parasitemia over 9-121 months in six patients with CD and ARD using conventional and quantitative PCR and parasitology. Five patients showed parasitemia; two had elevated levels of parEq/mL (49-458.7). One patient received benznidazole with a marked decrease in parasitemia; in the other, treatment was discontinued after 12 days due to toxicity. No CDR occurred. These findings support the need for qPCR standardization for preemptive therapy and suggest that benznidazole may prevent CDR in patients with high parasitemia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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