Prospective Evaluation of a Patient withTrypanosoma cruziInfection Transmitted by Transfusion

To the Editor: Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas' disease, is endemic in Latin America, with 16 million to 18 million people infected.1 The parasite is transmitted naturally by a triatome insect, but it can also be transmitted by blood transfusion. Despite recent studies in the United States that identified T. cruzi–seropositive blood donors,2,3 most of whom came from countries where the parasite is endemic, only three cases of transfusion-transmitted T. cruzi infection have been reported to date.3 In December 1997, during a research study, we identified a 60-year-old woman with multiple myeloma who was unintentionally transfused . . .