Due to an increase in global mobility, international travel and migration, tropical diseases are more frequently observed in Germany. Some tropical diseases can also affect the heart, cause cardiac symptoms and may require inclusion in differential diagnostic work-ups. The most important tropical diseases with cardiac involvement are Chagas' disease and echinococcosis. Other tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis, tropical endomyocardial fibrosis or sleeping sickness can affect the heart. The suspicion of a tropical disease as the cause of cardiac symptoms is based on the patient history of travel, migration and social setting. This CME article describes the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to tropical parasitic diseases with cardiac involvement.
