Shintaku M, et al. - Researchers reported an autopsy case of chronic Chagas disease, a debilitating disorder caused by persistent infection by protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi, in a 73-year-old Brazilian woman of Japanese descent who died of chronic cardiac insufficiency about 8 years following onset of cardiac symptoms. They noted that during the autopsy, the heart revealed typical characteristics of chronic Chagastic cardiomyopathy (ie, chronic lymphocytic myocarditis with extensive fibrosis and the development of an apical aneurysm). Moreover, the kidney revealed typical characteristics of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN). Therefore, based on the study findings, which indicated that chronic infection of Tr. cruzi could prompt immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis, the investigators concluded that the chronic persistent infection by Tr. cruzi contributed to the pathogenesis of MPGN in this patient.