SEROLOGIC EVALUATION OF TREATMENT OF CHRO NIC CHAGAS-DISEASE WITH ALLOPURINOL AND ITRACONAZOLE

Background: Chagas disease is endemic in Chile. Allopurinol and itraco nazole have activity against Trypanosoma cruzi and are recommended for the treatment of chronic disease in adults. Aim: to evaluate the chem otherapeutic effects of allopurinol and itraconazole using conventiona l and non conventional serologic tests. Patients and methods: Sera of 90 patients with chronic Chagas disease were studied before and after 9 to 11 months of treatment with allopurinol or itraconazole and after two months of treatment with placebo. Indirect immunofluorescence, EL ISA and Western Blot analysis were the conventional serological tests used and antibody dependent complement mediated lysis (CoML) the non c onventional test. Results: There were no differences in ELISA and indi rect immunofluorescence tests before and after therapy. Antigenic reco gnition profiles by Western blot showed qualitative and quantitative d ifferences in a small number of cases. CoML showed that the greater ne gativity was achieved in the Chagasic group treated with allopurinol o r itraconazole that had a negative xenodiagnosis before drug treatment (35.8 and 61.6%, respectively). Conclusions: There is a reversion of lytic activity in sera of patients with negative xenodiagnosis before treatment, suggesting the parasitemia could be an important parameter to be considered in the chemotherapy of Chagas disease.