title: Early diagnosis of congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection, using shed acute phase antigen, in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
abstract: Chagas' disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanasoma cruzi. It is estimated that 15,000 new cases of congenital T. cruzi transmission occur in the Americas each year. The aim of this study was to estimate the rate of congenital T. cruzi infection in infants born to infected women living in Ushuaia, Argentina, as well to assess a serologic test using Shed Acute Phase Antigen (SAPA) for a timely diagnosis of congenital infection. The rate of congenital infection among children in the study was 4.4% (3/68). Our results show that for infants younger than 30 days of age, matched blood samples from mother and infant were capable of identifying congenital transmission of infection using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with SAPA. For infants older than 3 months, congenital infection could be ruled out using the same procedure.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Central, Hospital Regional Ushuaia, Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico e Investigación de Endemoepidemias (CeNDIE) ANLIS Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán, Ministerio de Salud, Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. crismallimaci@yahoo.com.ar
authors.forename: María Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mallimaci
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sosa-Estani
authors.forename: Graciela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Russomando
authors.forename: Zunilda
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sijvarger
authors.forename: Isabel Marcela
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Lola
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barrionuevo
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Elsa Leonor
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Segura
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000151:congenital / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; C069715:trans-sialidase; D009439:Neuraminidase