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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, August 2007, p. 1045-1049, Vol. 14, No. 8
1071-412X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00127-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo (IMT) and Departamento de Medicina Preventiva da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar 470, CEP 05403-000,1 Panel Assessoria & Controle de Qualidade, São Paulo, Brazil,3 Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Panama, Panama City, Panama2
Received 19 March 2007/ Returned for modification 23 April 2007/ Accepted 14 May 2007
Five commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), one in-house ELISA, and two hemagglutination assays were evaluated to determine their diagnostic accuracy for Chagas' disease in two studies. In study 1, ELISA kits showed 100% sensitivity, but specificities ranged from 82.84% to 100% when leishmaniasis cases were included and from 95.57% to 100% when leishmaniasis cases were excluded. Kits using recombinant antigens or synthetic peptides are more specific than those using crude extracts from Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote forms. Kits evaluated in Panama, in study 2, showed 75% to 100% sensitivity and 97.12% to 100% specificity. These data were obtained by using a Western blot assay with T. cruzi trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigens as a reference test to confirm T. cruzi infection.
Published ahead of print on 23 May 2007.
| Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. | Clin. Microbiol. Rev. | Infect. Immun. |
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