Assessment of chemiluminescence and PCR effectiveness in relation to conventional serological tests for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease.
While testing 414 sera for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease, the conventional reactions of indirect hemagglutination, indirect immunofluorescence and the immunosorbent assay showed a sensitivity of 95.7%, 100% and 98.2% and a specificity of 98%, 98% and 96.4%, respectively, and an excellent association using Fisher's exact test. Chemiluminescence presented 100% sensitivity and 89.6% specificity, while PCR showed 100% specificity and 1.2% sensitivity. It is believed that the three conventional serological reactions are still adequate for diagnosing Chagas' disease.
Duarte
Aulísia Maria Vieira
AM
Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG.
de Andrade
Hélida Monteiro
HM
do Monte
Semíramis Jamil Hadad
SJ
de Toledo
Vicente de Paulo Coelho Peixoto
Vde P
Guimarães
Tânia Mara Pinto Dabés
TM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology