Antigens and immunoassays for diagnosing Chagas disease

摘要

Transfusion of contaminated blood has become the major route of transmission for Chagas disease. Current screening tests are insensitive and yield conflicting results, while confirmatory assays do not exist. The present invention relates to antigens and their use for serological diagnosis of Chagas disease. More specifically, the present invention concerns assays which are able to reliably and accurately detect the presence of antibodies to various specific antigens of Trypanosoma cruzi in a highly sensitive and specific manner.