Abstract
Chagas disease is a debilitating and often fatal pathology resulting from infection by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. In its recommendations, the World Health Organization states that the diagnosis of T. cruzi infection is usually based on the detection of antibodies against T. cruzi antigens and performed with two methodologically different assays. An inconclusive result can be resolved with a third “confirmatory” assay. The objective of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Chagas Western Blot IgG assay (LDBio Diagnostics, Lyon, France) as a confirmatory serologic test. The Chagas Western Blot IgG assay was performed with native antigens derived from a T. cruzi strain of the TcVI genotype. Retrospective sera were provided by two parasitology laboratories (France and Argentina). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the Chagas blot were all 100% in our sera collection. The Chagas blot is an easy and qualitative method for the diagnosis of Chagas disease, with results in less than 2 h. This immunoblot has potential as a supplemental test for the confirmation of the presence of antibodies against T. cruzi in serum specimens. Nonetheless, the very good initial results presented here will need to be confirmed in larger studies.
Highlights
Most triatomine species are distributed in intertropical areas, the impact of climate change on the geographical distribution of vectors of Chagas disease could be important
Given that there is no gold standard for the diagnosis of Chagas disease, and in order to determine the diagnostic value of the Chagas Western Blot IgG assay for T. cruzi antibody detection, cases were selected by combining the biological characteristics and anamnestic data for each patient
The control group (Group 2) was made up of 80 healthy subjects free of any parasitic infections and 98 patients who were free of anti-T. cruzi antibodies but affected by other parasitic infections, i.e., acute toxoplasmosis (n = 28), leishmaniasis (n = 44), visceral amebiasis (n = 7) and malaria (n = 19)
Summary
Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is a parasitic infection endemic to the. South American continent, where it affects millions of people and is responsible for thousands of deaths every year. T. cruzi vectors belong to Triatominae, which contains more than 140 species. Most triatomine species are distributed in intertropical areas, the impact of climate change on the geographical distribution of vectors of Chagas disease could be important. Recent studies showed that certain species of triatomine have adapted and colonize different temperate regions in America. Before this adaptation of these vectors of T. cruzi, these regions were free from Chagas disease cases [1,2]
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