title: Revisiting the immune trypanolysis test to optimise epidemiological surveillance and control of sleeping sickness in West Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because of its high sensitivity and its ease of use in the field, the card agglutination test for trypanosomiasis (CATT) is widely used for mass screening of sleeping sickness. However, the CATT exhibits false-positive results (i) raising the question of whether CATT-positive subjects who are negative in parasitology are truly exposed to infection and (ii) making it difficult to evaluate whether Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.) gambiense is still circulating in areas of low endemicity. The objective of this study was to assess the value of the immune trypanolysis test (TL) in characterising the HAT status of CATT-positive subjects and to monitor HAT elimination in West Africa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TL was performed on plasma collected from CATT-positive persons identified within medical surveys in several West African HAT foci in Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso with diverse epidemiological statuses (active, latent, or historical). All HAT cases were TL+. All subjects living in a nonendemic area were TL-. CATT prevalence was not correlated with HAT prevalence in the study areas, whereas a significant correlation was found using TL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TL appears to be a marker for contact with T.b. gambiense. TL can be a tool (i) at an individual level to identify nonparasitologically confirmed CATT-positive subjects as well as those who had contact with T.b. gambiense and should be followed up, (ii) at a population level to identify priority areas for intervention, and (iii) in the context of HAT elimination to identify areas free of HAT.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Unité Mixte de Recherche IRD-CIRAD 177, Montpellier, France. vincent.jamonneau@ird.fr
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jamonneau
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bucheton
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaboré
authors.forename: Hamidou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ilboudo
authors.forename: Oumou
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Camara
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Courtin
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Solano
authors.forename: Dramane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaba
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kambire
authors.forename: Kouakou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lingue
authors.forename: Mamadou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camara
authors.forename: Rudy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baelmans
authors.forename: Veerle
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lejon
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Büscher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire / Q000453:epidemiology; D016701:Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010274:Parasitology / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000276:immunology*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan