Trans-sialidase inhibition assay (TIA): a serological method for detection of Trypanosoma cruzi infections in sylvatic animal reservoir hosts.

SARTOR PA; CEBALLOS LA; OROZCO MM; CARDINAL MV; GURTLER RE; LEGUIZAMÓN S

VECTOR-BORNE AND ZOONOTIC DISEASES

MARY ANN LIEBERT INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2013 vol. 13 p. 581 - 585

1530-3667

The detection of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mammals is is crucial for understanding the eco-epidemiological role of the different species involved in parasite transmission cycles. Xenodiagnosis (XD) and hemoculture are routinely used to detect T. cruzi in wild mammals. The use of serological methods is much more limited because they require specific antibodies to gammaglobulines of each mammalian species susceptible to T. cruzi. In this study we detected T. cruzi infections by trans-sialidase inhibition assay (TIA), a test based on the antibody neutralization of a recombinant trans-sialidase that avoids the use of anti-gammaglobulines. The enzyme trans-sialidase is not detected in the co-endemic protozoan parasites Leishmania spp and Trypanosoma rangeli. Serum samples from 158 individuals of nine wild mammal species from two endemic rural areas in northern Argenina, which had been previously tested by XD, were evaluated by TIA. The overall TIA vs XD co-reactivity was 98.7% (156/158). All samples from 18 XD-positive mammals were TIA-positive (co-positivity, 100%), and co-negativity was 98.5% (138/140). Two samples from a XD-negative opossum and a XD-negative nine-banded armadillo were reactive by TIA. TIA is a novel tool for serological detection of T. cruzi in a wide variety of sylvatic reservoir hosts.