Urban outbreak of acute orally acquired Chagas disease in Táchira, Venezuela

Acute orally acquired Chagas disease (AOACD) has emerged as a significant threat in some countries of South America [1,2]. Until March 2013, at least four have reported outbreaks of acute orally acquired Chagas disease, specifically Brazil [3], Venezuela [4], Colombia [5] and Bolivia [6]. Outbreaks are also likely occurring in Argentina and Ecuador, according to some old reports [2]. In Venezuela, there have been at least three well-known epidemiological reports of AOACD, the first in 2007 at Caracas (Chacao) [4], the second in 2009 at Vargas [7] and the third in 2010 at Caracas (Antimano) [8]. A common feature of these outbreaks is that they have affected predominantly children and have led to a high fatality rate among confirmed cases. Reports describing the investigation of these outbreaks are of high scientific and epidemiological significance; however, information on only the first outbreak has been published [4]. For these reasons we report the findings of the fourth outbreak of AOACD that occurred in Venezuela, in Tachira state.