title: Towards saliva-based screening for sleeping sickness?
abstract: A pilot study was carried out on the detection of trypanosome-specific antibodies in saliva for diagnosis of sleeping sickness. All twenty-three saliva samples of parasitologically confirmed Trypanosoma brucei gambiense patients tested positive in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas all 14 saliva samples of a negative control group remained negative. Trypanosome-specific antibody levels in patient saliva correlated with antibody levels in serum, but were about 250-fold lower. Eight of 23 undiluted saliva samples of sleeping sickness patients tested positive in CATT/T. b. gambiense and two of 23 in LATEX/T. b. gambiense. All fourteen saliva samples of the negative control group were also positive in CATT/T. b. gambiense, as were four of 14 in LATEX/T. b. gambiense. CATT and LATEX were thus inappropriate for antibody detection in saliva. These results indicate that trypanosome-specific antibody detection in saliva is possible. This could lead to the development of a simple, non-invasive, reliable saliva field test for diagnosis of sleeping sickness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerpen, Belgium. vlejon@itg.be
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lejon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kwete
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Büscher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012463:Saliva / Q000469:parasitology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014347:Trypanosoma brucei gambiense / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic