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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Mercedes Pacheco, MS1, Carolina A. Alvarez, MD, SCP2, Marco Marruffo, MD, MS3, Janet Marruffo, MD4, Federico Montealegre, DVM, MS, PhD5, and Manuel Bayona, MD, PhD4. (1) Epidemiology, Instituto de Altos Estudios en Salud Publica, Universidad de Carabobo, Maracay, Venezuela, (2) Deparment of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107-2699, 817-735-0593, mbayona@hsc.unt.edu, (3) Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas, School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107-2699, (4) Department of Epidemiology, University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107-2699, (5) Asthma Research Program, Ponce School of Medicine, P.O. Box 7004, Ponce, PR 00732
Chagas’ disease is still a public health problem in Latin America. It is a zoonosis produced by the parasitic infection by Trypanosoma cruzi. It is transmitted by a reduvid bug (bed bug). It can also be transmitted by blood transfusion. Sporadic human cases have been reported in southern states of the U.S. including Texas. Blood banks in the U.S. test for Chagas’ disease on a routinely basis. In South America, produces serious heart and colon complications leading to disabilities and death. Immunological diagnosis and screening for epidemiologic surveillance have serious validity limitations. Specific monoclonal antibodies were used to develop a new diagnostic procedure using competitive ELISA techniques (C-ELISA) to detect specific anti-T. cruzi antibodies. This procedure was tested by using sera samples from 204 known infected patients and 102 uninfected controls. The monoclonal 8G12-B7 of IgG1 was found highly specific with the highest reactivity. The sensitivity found was 86.8% and the specificity was 92.6%. The predictive value for a positive test was 92.1% and the negative predictive value was 94.1% (204 cases/102 controls). It was observed that age influences the sensitivity and specificity of the test. No cross-reactions were detected with other parasite infections such as T. rangeli and Leishmania spp. This new test could be used in epidemiologic surveillance, screening for blood banks, and clinical diagnosis as it showed a better diagnostic abilities than the current diagnostic tests commercially available.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the session the participant will be able to
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.