Use of a Novel Chagas Urine Nanoparticle Test for Diagnosis of Congenital Chagas Disease

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2013

Use of a Novel Chagas Urine Nanoparticle Test for Diagnosis of Congenital Chagas Disease 

Detection of congenital T. cruzi transmission is considered one of the pillars of control programs of Chagas disease. Congenital transmission accounts for 25% of new infections with an estimated 15,000 infected infants per year. Current programs to detect congenital Chagas disease in Latin America utilize microscopy early in life and serology after 6 months. These programs suffer from low sensitivity by microscopy and high loss to follow-up later in infancy. We developed a Chagas urine nanoparticle test (Chunap) to concentrate, preserve and detect T. cruzi antigens in urine for early, non-invasive diagnosis of congenital Chagas disease.