It usually presents in the second or third decade of life and progresses over subsequent decades. Conduction disorders often include right bundle branch block, partial or complete atrioventricular block, and premature ventricular contractions. Patients with Chagas' disease have experienced sudden death, and fatalities have also resulted from complications of congestive heart failure. The gastrointestinal tract is the second most frequently involved organ system. The disease causes denervation leading to impaired motility and dilatation, which results in megaesophagus and megacolon.
Congenital infections are usually responsible for premature births.
Such premature infants may have hepatosplenomegaly, abdominal distention, cardiomegaly, megaesophagus, and meningoencephalitis. If smears do not reveal the organisms, trypanosomes may be found in stained sediment obtained by centrifuging several milliliters of blood after lysing the erythrocytes. Organisms may be cultured from blood on NNN medium or in blood broth. Alternatively, blood may be injected into a laboratory rodent, whose blood is then monitored for evidence of parasitemia. Xenodiagnosis, which is not readily available, constitutes the most sensitive diagnostic technique.