title: Staphylococci adherence to trypanosomes exposed to immune sera as a method for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease.
abstract: A new method, the staphylococci adherence test (SAT), for the serological diagnosis of Chagas' disease is described; it is based on the affinity of staphylococcal Protein A for IgG globulins and uses epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi which are fixed on to glass slides and incubated stepwise with probing sera and a Staphylococcus aureus A suspension. After Giemsa staining, epimastigote preparations which have been incubated with positive sera appear covered by cocci. Results using indirect immunofluorescence, complement fixation and SAT were in agreement in 98.37% of 860 human sera. A slightly modified SAT (SAT') may also be utilized for the diagnosis of acute Chagas' disease. The simplicity of the method may allow its adaptation for field work. Other possible uses were investigated.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D007104:Immune Adherence Reaction; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G