Rapid diagnostics test for detecting chagas disease: Breaking barriers to diagnosis access in remote areas

MENDICINO DIEGO

Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Open Access Text

Año: 2019 vol. 4 p. 1 - 2

2398-8096

Immunochromatograpic tests with colloidal gold, commonlynamed rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), have been recently developedfor diagnosis of physiological conditions (e.g. pregnancy tests) andinfectious and noninfectious diseases. RDT have some advantages,including technical simplicity, conservation of the kits at roomtemperature, possibility of individual application, and rapid reading ofresults with no need for an equipped laboratory. These characteristicsmake them very useful as screening tests in distant sites; however, apositive result must be confirmed later in a laboratory by CST. The lowsensitivity values obtained with RDT by different authors suggest thatthey would be useful only if used in parallel with a CST, rendering themless useful in the field. Diagnosis sensitivity can be enhanced byperforming tests simultaneously on a single sample. The simultaneoususe of two different RDTs with the same sample allows the health professionals to obtain a complete diagnosis of CD in remote areas andwithout laboratory equipment, thereby complying with internationalrecommendations. Given the short time involved in the whole process,including blood sampling, processing and RDT reading, the results canbe returned almost immediately. Thus, only discordant samples, whichrepresent a very low percentage, would have to be transported to alaboratory in a Health Center to be resolved using a third method (IHA,ELISA or IFI). On the other hand, in middle complexity laboratorieswhere HAI and ELISA can be performed, RDT could be used todefine discordant result in replace of IFI, due to the high specificitydemonstrated by different authors. Increasing access to highquality serodiagnosis of marginalized rural populations, the RDTs willprovide them the opportunity of treatment and prevent the associatedpathologies.