Recent advances in the diagnosis of Schistosoma infection: the detection of parasite DNA

• Main Authors: Rabello Ana, Pontes Luís André, Dias-Neto Emmanuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2002-01-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: schistosomiais; diagnosis; polymerase chain reaction
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762002000900033

As Schistosoma sp. control programs are chiefly based on treatment of infected population, adequate case finding has a crucial role. The available diagnostic methods are far from ideal, since the search for eggs in stools and the detection of circulating antigens lack sensitivity in low prevalence and post-treatment situations and antibody detection lacks specificity. In most endemic foci, repeated treatment of infected people leaves a number of non-diagnosed and consequently non-treated persons, enough to maintain a persistent residue of 5 to 10% prevalence. In an attempt to surpass these diagnostic limitations we have developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of Schistosoma sp. in feces that, in a first population study, has shown to be more sensitive than three-repeated stool Kato-Katz examination. The PCR may constitute a valuable tool for the diagnosis of the Schistosoma sp. infection in special situations, when high sensitivity and specificity are required and infrastructure is available.