Research Insights

Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is the highest-impact infectious disease in Latin America and a growing threat in the United States. The result of infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, Chagas disease has been described as the “most neglected of the neglected diseases.” As a result of the large number of host and vector species infectable by T. cruzi, as well as the variety of conditions under which transmission can occur, the possibility of eradicating T. cruzi is extremely low. Despite the success of vector control efforts in reducing the transmission of T. cruzi in the southern cone of South America, Chagas disease remains the highest-impact parasitic disease in the Americas, resulting in yearly losses of more than 50,000 lives and 0.586 million disability-adjusted life years. Several experimental vaccines have demonstrated that induced immunity can bring experimental infections more rapidly and effectively under control, but none have been shown to prevent infection or to provide parasitological cure. A key factor preventing use of current drugs and the development of safer and more effective new drugs is the low level of Trypanosoma cruzi parasites in the blood of infected subjects, which makes discrimination of an active infection from a resolved (cured) infection, difficult. The goal of this project is to complete adaptation of the rapid and inexpensive T. cruzi UltraPCR method for high sensitivity detection of T. cruzi, validate its use for confirming infection and monitoring treatment impact, and provide the justification for ultimately deploying this assay for human and veterinary diagnostic use.

Funder: NIH

Amount: $2,441,786

PI: Rick Tarleton, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Cellular Biology