Romaña's sign is a medical term for the unilateral painless periorbital swelling associated with the acute stage of Chagas' disease. Not to be confused with a chagoma.
Contents
Presentation
It occurs 1-2 weeks after infection. 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 Romaña's sign.
When one has Romaña's sign, one will have subcutaneous inflammatory nodule or nonpurulent unilateral palpebral edema and conjunctivitis with ipsilateral regional lymphadenopathy.
Eponym
It is named after Cecilio Romaña, an Argentinian researcher who first described the phenomenon.
References
Romana's sign Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA