Side effects of benznidazole treatment in a cohort of patients with Chagas disease in non-endemic country.

Chagas disease is a disease endemic in Latin America, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Benznidazole is the most commonly used drug for the etiological treatment of the disease although its effectiveness varies according to the phase of the same and toxic side effects are frequent. This prospective study describes the side effects of benznidazole treatment of a cohort of 373 chronic patients. Of these 40.2% presented adverse reactions. The most frequent side effect were dermatological reactions 32.4% (121 of 373) followed by digestive intolerance 9.1% (34 of 373). Surprisingly, three cases of migratory arthritis were observed. Patients treated with benznidazole must be followed up so that the long term incidence of side effects can be studied.

[1]  J. Gascón,et al.  Tolerance of Benznidazole in Treatment of Chagas' Disease in Adults , 2010, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

[2]  M. Segovia,et al.  Usefulness of PCR for monitoring benznidazole response in patients with chronic Chagas' disease: a prospective study in a non-disease-endemic country. , 2010, The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy.

[3]  R. López-Vélez,et al.  Use of benznidazole to treat chronic Chagas' disease: a systematic review with a meta-analysis. , 2009, The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy.

[4]  S. Yusuf,et al.  The BENEFIT trial: testing the hypothesis that trypanocidal therapy is beneficial for patients with chronic Chagas heart disease. , 2009, Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.

[5]  M. G. Álvarez,et al.  Side effects of benznidazole as treatment in chronic Chagas disease: fears and realities , 2009, Expert review of anti-infective therapy.

[6]  Rodolfo Viotti,et al.  Long-Term Cardiac Outcomes of Treating Chronic Chagas Disease with Benznidazole versus No Treatment , 2006, Annals of Internal Medicine.

[7]  J. R. Cançado.  Long term evaluation of etiological treatment of chagas disease with benznidazole. , 2002, Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo.

[8]  Simonne Almeida e Silva,et al.  Randomised trial of efficacy of benznidazole in treatment of early Trypanosoma cruzi infection , 1996, The Lancet.

[9]  Carpintero Dj.  [Use of thioctic acid for prevention of the adverse effects induced by benznidazole in patients with chronic Chagas' infection]. , 1983 .