Table 4.
Patient Characteristics of patients with positive Trypanosoma cruzi serology divided by those with and without detectable T. cruzi by qPCR*
| qPCR+ patients (n = 16) |
qPCR– patients (n = 16) |
P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 10 (63%) | 7 (44%) | 0.288† |
| Median age, years (IQR) | 28 (22–42) | 41.5 (30–53) | 0.073† |
| Hospitalized (vs. ambulatory) | 6 (38%) | 5 (31%) | 0.710† |
| Patients on ART for > 1 week | 4 (25%) | 11 (69%) | 0.013† |
| Fever | 8/16 (50%) | 6/16 (38%) | 0.361† |
| Weight loss | 9/16 (56%) | 5/16 (31%) | 0.143† |
| Headache | 11/16 (69%) | 5/16 (31%) | 0.038† |
| Mean body mass index (SD) | 21.6 (19.1–26.6) | 23.8 (22.0–26.0) | 0.176‡ |
| Median CD4+ count, cells/mm3 (IQR) | 231 (29–393) | 176.5 (86.5–505.5) | 0.635‡ |
| CD4+ < 100 cells/mm3 | 6/15 (40.0%) | 4 (25%) | 0.458† |
| CD4+ < 200 cells/mm3 | 7/15 (47%) | 8 (50%) | 0.578† |
| Median HIV VL, copies/mL (IQR) | 7711 (2706–237,684) | 3235 (53–169,815) | 0.385§ |
| Patients with HIV VL < 100 copies/mL | 2/13 (15%) | 3/11 (27%) | 0.630§ |
| Patients with HIV VL > 100,000 copies/mL | 5/13 (38%) | 3/11 (27%) | 0.679§ |
| ECG findings that could be attributed to Chagas disease | 3 (19%) | 2 (13%) | 0.500§ |
| Cardiomegaly on chest X-ray | 3/14 (21%) | 0/8 (0%) | 0.273§ |
| Mild or moderate cognitive deficits | 4 (25%) | 2 (13%) | 0.365§ |
| Reactivation | 4 (20%) | 0 (0%) | 0.051§ |
ART = antiretroviral therapy; ECG = echocardiogram; IQR = interquartile range; qPCR = quantitative polymerase chain reaction; VL = viral load.
*
Positive qPCR includes those that were positive by either blood clot or whole blood.
†
Chi-square test.
‡
Fisher’s exact test.
§
Mann-Whitney test.