Parasitic diseases of the heart I: Acute and chronic Chagas' disease.
The heart may be affected, directly or indirectly, by a variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. The increase in travel and immigration from tropical areas as well as the AIDS epidemic has heightened interest in parasitic diseases. Protozoan and helminthic parasites may affect the heart in various ways. It has been over two decades since the publication of Kean’s monograph, Parasites of the Human Heart; the reader is referred to that work for a review of older literature (1). In the present review we update our understanding of the cardiovascular manifestations of Chagas’ disease. Toxoplasmosis and other parasitic diseases will be the subject of the second part of this review.