What complications are associated with Chagas disease?

What complications are associated with Chagas disease?

Chronic Chagas disease may cause serious complications that affect the heart and gastrointestinal tract. These complications may be life-threatening if left untreated. Heart complications include:

• Arrhythmia (unusual heart rate or rhythm).
• Cardiac arrest (sudden death).
• Dilated cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart).
• Heart failure.

Intestinal tract complications may include:

• Megaesophagus (enlarged esophagus).
• Megacolon (enlarged colon).

In rare cases, young children or immunosuppressed people infected with Chagas disease develop life-threatening complications, including:

• Myocarditis (severe inflammation and infection of the heart muscle).
• Meningoencephalitis (severe inflammation and infection of the brain).