BRASILIA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- A Brazilian town has an outbreak of Chagas disease, the government of the northern province of Amazonas said Monday.

    Twelve people, including four children, were infected in the municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro after eating "acai" – a kind of food produced from palm tree, said Evandro Melo, a provincial official.

    Melo said the cases were diagnosed on Jan. 4.

    Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic condition transmitted by blood-sucking assassin bugs.

    In 2007, Amazonas province also had reported an outbreak of Chagas disease because of acai, registering 46 cases without deaths.