Chagas' disease: application of TESA-blot in inconclusive sera from a Brazilian blood bank.
Vox Sang
; 87(3): 204-7, 2004 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-15569074
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
The procedure used for screening Trypanosoma cruzi-infected blood donors by using two serological techniques has frequently led to discordant results. The TESA-blot, a confirmatory test for Chagas' disease, was applied in a survey of inconclusive sera from a Brazilian blood bank. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Four hundred and forty-eight sera, obtained from blood donors at the HRU-Fundação Hemominas, were tested by using the TESA-blot assay, a Western blotting method. Of these 448 sera, 348 had previously been determined as inconclusive for Chagas' disease owing to discordance between the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).RESULTS:
The TESA-blot was positive for 2.87% (10/348) of the inconclusive sera, and 100% positive and negative for the sera from chagasic (n=50) and non-chagasic (n=50) donors, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results clearly indicate the need to improve the diagnosis of Chagas' disease in blood banks by using new confirmatory diagnostic test(s). The TESA-blot, a new test with trypomastigote fractions of the T. cruzi Y strain, has made new approaches to the confirmation of Chagas' disease possible.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Blotting, Western
/
Chagas Disease
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do sul
/
Brasil
Language:
En
Journal:
Vox Sang
Year:
2004
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil