Serodiagnosis of Chronic and Acute Chagas' Disease with Trypanosoma cruzi Recombinant Proteins: Results of a Collaborative Study in Six Latin American Countries

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to diagnose Chagas' disease by a serological test was performed with Trypanosoma cruzi recombinant antigens (JL8, MAP, and TcPo). High sensitivity (99.4%) and specificity (99.3%) were obtained when JL8 was combined with MAP (JM) and tested with 150 serum samples from chagasic and 142 nonchagasic individuals. Moreover, JM also diagnosed 84.2% of patients in the acute phase of T. cruzi infection.