Title: Prevalence of circulating Trypanosoma cruzi detected by polymerase chain reaction in patients with Chagas’ cardiomyopathy
Abstract: In recent years, the polymerase chain reaction technique (PCR) 1 Avila H.A Sigman D.S Cohen L.M Millikan R.C Simson L Polymerase chain reaction amplification of T. cruzi kinetoplast minicircle DNA isolated from whole blood lysates diagnosis of chronic Chagas' disease. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1991; 48: 211-222 Crossref PubMed Scopus (176) Google Scholar , 2 Moser D.R Kirchoff L.V Donelson J.E Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi by DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction. J Clin Microbiol. 1989; 27: 1477-1482 Crossref PubMed Google Scholar has demonstrated higher sensitivity than microscopy 3 Kirchoff L.V Votava J.R Ochs D.E Moser D.R Comparison of PCR and microscopic methods for detecting Trypanosoma cruzi. J Clin Microbiol. 1996; 34: 1171-1175 PubMed Google Scholar and xenodiagnosis 4 Avila H.A Borges Pereira J Thiemann O Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in blood specimens of chronic patients by polymerase chain reaction amplification of kinetoplast minicircle DNA comparison with serology and xenodiagnosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1993; 31: 2421-2426 PubMed Google Scholar for the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), providing a novel tool for our understanding of Chagas' disease. It has been reported that 81% to 100% of seropositive patients living in rural endemic areas have circulating T. cruzi detected by PCR. 5 Wincker P Britto C Borges Pereira J Cardoso M.A Oelemann W Morel C.M Use of a simplified polymerase chain reaction procedure to detect Trypanosoma cruzi in blood samples from chronic chagasic patients in a rural endemic area. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1994; 15: 771-774 Google Scholar , 6 Wincker P Telleira J Bosseno M.F Cardoso M.A Marques P Yaksic N Aznar C Liegeard P Hontebeyrie M Noireau F Morel C.M Breniere S.F PCR-based diagnosis for Chagas' disease in Bolivian children living in an active transmission area comparison with conventional serological and parasitological diagnosis. Parasitology. 1997; 114: 367-373 Crossref PubMed Scopus (50) Google Scholar , 7 Junqueira A.C Chiari E Wincker P Comparison of the polymerase chain reaction with two classical parasitological methods for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease in an endemic region of north-eastern Brazil. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1996; 90: 129-132 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (89) Google Scholar , 8 Britto C Cardoso M.A Vanni C.M Hasslocher-Moreno A Xavier S.S Oelemann W Santoro A Pirmez C Morel C.M Wicker P Polymerase chain reaction detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in human blood samples as a tool for diagnosis and treatment evaluation. Parasitology. 1995; 110: 241-247 Crossref PubMed Scopus (135) Google Scholar Also, it has been observed in patients with Chagas' disease that the parasite deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence is amplified more frequently from tissues showing microscopic evidence of inflammation. 9 Jones E.M Colley D.G Tostes S Lopes E.R Vnencak-Jones C.L McCurley T.L Amplification of a Trypanosoma cruzi DNA sequence from inflammatory lesions in human chagasic cardiomyopathy. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1993; 48: 348-357 PubMed Google Scholar , 10 Vago A.R Macedo A.M Adad S.J Avila Reis D Correa-Oliveira R PCR detection of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in oesophageal tissue of patients with chronic digestive Chagas' disease. Lancet. 1996; 348 ([letter]): 891-892 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (101) Google Scholar The detection of T. cruzi by PCR from blood samples or cardiac tissue of patients with Chagas' disease has revived the old controversy regarding the role of the parasite in the mechanisms leading to chronic cardiomyopathy.
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Date: 2000-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 28
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot