EFFICACY OF CHEMOTHERAPY WITH BENZNIDAZOLE IN CHILDREN IN THE INDETERMINATE PHASE OF CHAGAS-DISEASE

A double-blind, randomized, clinical field trial was designed to test the efficacy and tolerance of a specific drug treatment in children in the indeterminate phase of infection by Trypanosoma cruzi. Children w ere treated with benznidazole at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day for 60 days or placebo and followed-up for 48 months. The treated children showed a s ignificant decrease in geometric mean titers of antibodies against T. cruzi measured by indirect hemagglutination, indirect immunofluorescen ce, and ELISA. After a four year follow-up, 62% of the benznidazole-tr eated children and no placebo-treated child were seronegative for T. c ruzi when tested by an ELISA using a T. cruzi flagellar calcium-bindin g protein (F29). Xenodiagnosis carried out after 48 months of follow-u p was positive in 4.7% of the benznidazole-treated children and in 51. 2% of the placebo-treated children. These results show the tolerance t o and efficacy of benznidazole against T. cruzi in seropositive childr en six to 12 years of age. We used an early serologic marker of cure a fter treatment, consisting of a recombinant antigen implemented in a r apid, conventional serologic procedure.