Diagnostic accuracy of PCR in gambiense sleeping sickness diagnosis, staging and post-treatment follow-up: a 2-year longitudinal study.

Background: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been proposed for diagnosis, staging and post-treatment follow-up of sleeping sickness but no large-scale clinical evaluations of its diagnostic accuracy have taken place yet.

Methodology/principal Findings: An 18S ribosomal RNA gene targeting PCR was performed on blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 360 T. brucei gambiense sleeping sickness patients and on blood of 129 endemic controls from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

How to shorten patient follow-up after treatment for Trypanosoma brucei gambiense sleeping sickness.

BACKGROUND. Clinical management of human African trypanosomiasis requires patient follow-up of 2 years' duration. At each follow-up visit, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is examined for trypanosomes and white blood cells (WBCs).