There is no way to guarantee 100% that a baby born to a mother with Chagas disease will be free of infection.

However, treating the disease before pregnancy reduces the likelihood that the child will be infected so it is recommended that women of childbearing age who have Chagas disease should be treated before they become pregnant.

In any case, the most important measure is to test the newborn baby for Chagas and to repeat the test at nine months of age because, in most cases, timely treatment at either age will completely cure the infection.

It is important to stress that having Chagas disease is not an obstacle to having a normal pregnancy and the baby will not necessarily be infected at birth.