Reactivation of chagas' disease during therapy of acute lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

Chagas' disease, acquired by blood transfusion, was reactivated by chemotherapy in a child with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Diagnosis and successful therapy was facilitated by accurate history, and established by blood smear examination, culture, serology and xenodiagnosis. Reactivation during chemotherapy, while the serologic response remained intact, allows for speculation concerning the critical cellular immune responses to Chagas' disease in humans.