Reactivation of Chagas disease with central nervous system involvement: peripheral blood smear evidence

摘要

In September 2008, a 35-year-old Argentinean man was admitted to hospital with fever and disorientation. A contrast computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging showed two intracranial abscesses. The patient was treated initially with ceftriaxone, but over the course of two weeks of treatment his condition gradually worsened. Approximately two weeks after starting treatment, a Giemsa-stained blood smear was performed in our department, and four Trypanosoma cruzi-like parasites were observed with a ×100 oil-immersion objective lens (Figure 1).