Serological study of Trypanosoma cruzi, Strongyloides stercoralis, HIV, human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) and syphilis infections in asymptomatic Latin-American immigrants in Spain

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to perform a serological screening for T. cruzi, Strongyloides stercoralis, HIV, human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) and syphilis in Latin American immigrants admitted to hospital in Spain. Methods: We have carried out a cross-sectional study of Latin American immigrants admitted to the Hospital General Universitario Alicante (Spain) from June 2012 to May 2014, where screening of Chagas disease, strongyloidiasis, HTLV, HIV and syphilis was performed by serology. Results: A total 180 patients were included in the study. Patients’ median age was 38 years old, 123 (68.3%; 123/180) were female and 57 (31.7%; 57/180) male. Five of the 180 (2.5%) patients were positive for Chagas disease; associated with knowledge about Chagas disease (p¼0.005), previous contact with patients with Chagas disease (p¼0.04) and being Bolivian (p,0.001). Forty-two of the 157 (26.8%) patients were positive for Strongyloides serology; associated positively with being male (p,0.001), eosinophilia (p¼0.001), hyper-IgE (p,0.001) and being Ecuadorian (p¼0.001), and negatively associated with being Colombian (p¼0.03). Positive serology of latent syphilis was found in 1.8% (3/171) of patients. Serology of HTLV was negative in all cases. No new cases of HIV infection were diagnosed. Conclusions: We propose that Latin American immigrant patients admitted to hospital in Spain be screened for strongyloidiasis, Chagas disease and syphilis by serology.