Chagas disease is considered a neglected tropical disease, prevalent in developing
regions where the climate is hot, humid and housing and health conditions favor it’s
proliferation and contagion. The infection is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which lives in the bug known as the “barbeiro”. There are two phases of the disease, acute and
chronic. In recent years, acute Chagas disease (ACD) has been reported on an increasing scale
and the most recurrent mode of transmission has been oral transmission through food. In
epidemiological studies, the Amazon has been highlighted, specifically the North region, with
the highest incidence rate and, again, oral transmission is the most frequent. The aim of this
study is to describe aspects of ACD as a foodborne disease in Brazil. This is a cross-sectional,
analytical and descriptive study, based on secondary data available in the Notifiable Diseases
System (SINAN) of the Ministry of Health. The following were analyzed: number of
confirmed cases; transmission mode; probable place of infection; gender; age group; area of
residence; race; and monthly seasonality of the disease in the five regions of Brazil, from
2007 to 2019. Confirmed cases were tabulated, publicly available on an online platform. It is
observed that the increase and incidence of ACD in the country, mostly in the North and
Amazon region, was due to oral transmission and that hygiene policies can be a solution to
control and decrease the number of cases.
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