Prevalence of <em>Trypanosoma cruzi</em> Infection among People Aged 15 to 89 Years Inhabiting the Department of <em>Casanare</em> (Colombia)

<div><p>The purpose of this study was to calculate the seroprevalence of <i>Trypanosoma cruzi</i> infection in a sample of inhabitants from a region considered to be at high risk of natural transmission of Chagas disease in Colombia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in subjects from 5 municipalities, recruited in urban and rural locations, distributed by gender according to the demographic information available. Socio-demographic information, history of potential exposure to insect vectors, blood donating, as well as symptoms suggesting cardiac disease were collected using a questionnaire. After giving written informed consent, blood specimens were obtained from 486 people to determine the serologic evidence of past exposure to <i>T. cruzi</i>. Infection was diagnosed when two different tests (ELISA and IHA) were positive. The seroprevalence of antibodies against <i>T. cruzi</i> was 16.91% considering an estimated population of 44,355 aged between 15 and 89 years (95%IC: 13.72 to 20.01). The factors significantly associated with the infection were: 1- Housing materials like vegetable material, adobe or unfinished brick walls; 2- The fact of having previous tests for Chagas disease (regardless of the result). Of note, the mean ages among infected and not infected participants were significantly different (49.19 <i>vs.</i> 41.66, p≤0.0001). Among the studied municipalities, the one with the highest frequency of <i>T. cruzi</i> infection was Nunchia, with 31.15% of the surveyed subjects. Therefore it may be concluded that <i>T. cruzi</i> infection is highly prevalent in the north region of <i>Casanare</i>, in Colombia.</p>