Romana's sign

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Romana’s sign, also known as a chagoma, is a medical term for the unilateral painless periorbital swelling associated with the acute stage of Chagas’ disease. It is due to conjunctival swelling after contamination with the vector’s feces, which contains the parasitic trypanosoma cruzi.

Although very characteristic of Chagas’ disease, not all patients with the acute form develop Romana’s sign.

It is named after Cecilio Romana, an Argentinian researcher who first described the phenomenon.

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