Performance of parasitological and molecular techniques for the diagnosis and surveillance of gambiense sleeping sickness.

Objectives: Recently, improvements have been made to diagnostics for gambiense sleeping sickness control but their performance remains poorly documented and may depend on specimen processing prior to examination. In a prospective study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we compared the diagnostic performance of several parasite detection techniques, immune trypanolysis and of m18S PCR on whole blood stored in a stabilisation buffer or dried on filter paper.

Methods: Individuals with CATT whole blood (WB) titer ≥1∶4 or with clinical signs indicative for sleeping sickness were examined for presence of trypanosomes in lymph node aspirate (LNA) and/or in blood.