Alejandro Luquetti Ostermayer, Fernanda Alvarenga Cardoso Medeiros, Jacqueline Araújo Domingos Iturra, Job Alves de Souza Filho, Leonardo Maia Leony, Larissa de Carvalho Medrado Vasconcelos, Liliane da Rocha Siriano, Suelene Brito do Nascimento Tavares, Vinícius Silva Belo, Andréa Silvestre de Sousa, Fred Luciano Neves Santos
{"title":"A multicentre comparative study of serological methods for diagnosing Chagas disease in Brazil.","authors":"Alejandro Luquetti Ostermayer, Fernanda Alvarenga Cardoso Medeiros, Jacqueline Araújo Domingos Iturra, Job Alves de Souza Filho, Leonardo Maia Leony, Larissa de Carvalho Medrado Vasconcelos, Liliane da Rocha Siriano, Suelene Brito do Nascimento Tavares, Vinícius Silva Belo, Andréa Silvestre de Sousa, Fred Luciano Neves Santos","doi":"10.1590/0074-02760240282","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, remains a significant often underdiagnosed public health challenge in endemic regions, affecting millions globally. Accurate and timely diagnosis is critical, but the performance of existing diagnostic methods varies widely in sensitivity and specificity.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This multicentre study assessed the diagnostic performance of 17 serological assays for detecting anti-T. cruzi antibodies.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIA), indirect haemagglutination assays (IHA), indirect immunofluorescence assays (IIF), rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), and a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) were included in this study.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>Some EIA-based tests achieved 100% sensitivity, while IHAs and IIFs demonstrated reduced specificity. CMIA exhibited 100% sensitivity, highlighting its potential as a robust screening tool. Combining EIAs with IHAs or IIFs improved overall sensitivity, often surpassing 99%, although specificity remained variable. Cross-reactivity with other parasitic diseases posed challenges to specificity, particularly in assays employing crude antigens.</p><p><strong>Main conclusions: </strong>These findings emphasise the importance of tailoring diagnostic tool selection to regional epidemiological contexts and advancing antigen refinement to enhance diagnostic accuracy and accessibility, particularly in resource-limited settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":18469,"journal":{"name":"Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz","volume":"120 ","pages":"e240282"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-02760240282","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PARASITOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Chagas disease (CD), a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, remains a significant often underdiagnosed public health challenge in endemic regions, affecting millions globally. Accurate and timely diagnosis is critical, but the performance of existing diagnostic methods varies widely in sensitivity and specificity.
Objectives: This multicentre study assessed the diagnostic performance of 17 serological assays for detecting anti-T. cruzi antibodies.
Methods: Commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIA), indirect haemagglutination assays (IHA), indirect immunofluorescence assays (IIF), rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), and a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) were included in this study.
Findings: Some EIA-based tests achieved 100% sensitivity, while IHAs and IIFs demonstrated reduced specificity. CMIA exhibited 100% sensitivity, highlighting its potential as a robust screening tool. Combining EIAs with IHAs or IIFs improved overall sensitivity, often surpassing 99%, although specificity remained variable. Cross-reactivity with other parasitic diseases posed challenges to specificity, particularly in assays employing crude antigens.
Main conclusions: These findings emphasise the importance of tailoring diagnostic tool selection to regional epidemiological contexts and advancing antigen refinement to enhance diagnostic accuracy and accessibility, particularly in resource-limited settings.
期刊介绍：
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz is a journal specialized in microbes & their vectors causing human infections. This means that we accept manuscripts covering multidisciplinary approaches and findings in the basic aspects of infectious diseases, e.g. basic in research in prokariotes, eukaryotes, and/or virus. Articles must clearly show what is the main question to be answered, the hypothesis raised, and the contribution given by the study.
Priority is given to manuscripts reporting novel mechanisms and general findings concerning the biology of human infectious prokariotes, eukariotes or virus. Papers reporting innovative methods for diagnostics or that advance the basic research with these infectious agents are also welcome.
It is important to mention what we do not publish: veterinary infectious agents research, taxonomic analysis and re-description of species, epidemiological studies or surveys or case reports and data re-analysis. Manuscripts that fall in these cases or that are considered of low priority by the journal editorial board, will be returned to the author(s) for submission to another journal.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
