Trypanosome spliced leader RNA for diagnosis of acoziborole treatment outcome in gambiense human African trypanosomiasis: A longitudinal follow-up study.

Background: Detection of spliced leader (SL)-RNA allows sensitive diagnosis of gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). We investigated its diagnostic performance for treatment outcome assessment.

Methods: Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a consecutive series of 97 HAT patients, originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were prospectively collected before treatment with acoziborole, and during 18 months of longitudinal follow-up after treatment.

Trypanosome SL-RNA detection in blood and cerebrospinal fluid to demonstrate active gambiense human African trypanosomiasis infection.

Background: Spliced Leader (SL) trypanosome RNA is detectable only in the presence of live trypanosomes, is abundant and the Trypanozoon subgenus has a unique sequence. As previously shown in blood from Guinean human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) patients, SL-RNA is an accurate target for diagnosis. Detection of SL-RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has never been attempted.