title: Natural immunity to human African trypanosomiasis: trypanosome lytic factors and the blood incubation infectivity test.
abstract: This review focuses on the epidemiology of human African trypanosomiasis: why it occurs in humans, the current methods of surveillance, and the drugs available to treat it. Emphasis is placed on the identification of human-infective trypanosomes by the blood incubation infectivity test. This test distinguishes between trypanosomes that are non-infective for humans and those that are potentially infective. Currently the test requires incubation of parasites with human serum before injection into mice; any surviving parasites are considered human-infective. The factors in serum that kill all non-human-infective parasites are known as trypanosome lytic factors. The paper details the biochemistry of these factors and recommends standardization of the test based on current knowledge. This test can be used to screen animals with trypanosomiasis, in order to evaluate their role during endemic and epidemic human African trypanosomiasis.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medical and Molecular Parasitology and Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, 341 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, USA. jr57@nyu.edu
authors.forename: Jayne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raper
authors.forename: Maria Pilar
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Portela Molina
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Redpath
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lugli
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood*; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; C434063:TLF1 protein, human