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Review
. 2022 Sep 27;15(1):343.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-022-05476-4.

Technological advances in the serological diagnosis of Chagas disease in dogs and cats: a systematic review

Natália Erdens Maron Freitas  1 , Fernanda Lopes Habib  1 , Emily Ferreira Santos  1 , Ângelo Antônio Oliveira Silva  1 , Natália Dantas Fontes  1 , Leonardo Maia Leony  1 , Daniel Dias Sampaio  2 , Marcio Cerqueira de Almeida  3 , Filipe Dantas-Torres  4 , Fred Luciano Neves Santos  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Technological advances in the serological diagnosis of Chagas disease in dogs and cats: a systematic review

Natália Erdens Maron Freitas et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Chagas disease (CD) is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted mainly through the feces/urine of infected triatomine bugs. The acute phase lasts 2-3 months and is characterized by high parasitemia and nonspecific symptoms, whereas the lifelong chronic phase features symptoms affecting the heart and/or digestive tract occurring in 30-40% of infected individuals. As in humans, cardiac abnormalities are observed in T. cruzi-infected dogs and cats. We reviewed the technological advances in the serological diagnosis of CD in dogs and cats.

Methods: A review of the published literature during the last 54 years (1968-2022) on the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of CD in dogs and cats was conducted.

Results: Using predefined eligibility criteria for a search of the published literature, we retrieved and screened 436 publications. Of these, 84 original studies were considered for inclusion in this review. Dogs and cats are considered as sentinels, potentially indicating an active T. cruzi transmission and thus the risk for human infection. Although dogs and cats are reputed to be important for maintaining the T. cruzi domestic transmission cycle, there are no commercial tests to detect past or active infections in these animals. Most published research on CD in dogs and cats have used in-house serological tests prepared with native and/or full-length recombinant antigens, resulting in variable diagnostic performance. In recent years, chimeric antigens have been used to improve the diagnosis of chronic CD in humans with encouraging results. Some of them have high performance values (> 95%) and extremely low cross-reactivity rates for Leishmania spp., especially the antigens IBMP-8.1 to IBMP-8.4. The diagnostic performance of IBMP antigens was also investigated in dogs, showing high diagnostic performance with negligible cross-reactivity with anti-Leishmania infantum antibodies.

Conclusions: The development of a commercial immunodiagnostic tool to identify past or active T. cruzi infections in dogs and cats is urgently needed. The use of chimeric recombinant T. cruzi antigens may help to fill this gap and is discussed in this review.

Keywords: Cats; Diagnosis; Dogs; Epidemiology; Serology; Trypanosoma cruzi.

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Conflict of interest statement

Filipe Dantas-Torres is Editor-in-Chief of Parasites & Vectors, but the peer review process and final decision was handled independently by the Professor Anna Bajer, Subject Editor of the section Protozoa and protozoan diseases.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Triatomines normally found in endemic areas of South America. Preserved pair of Triatoma infestans A and Panstrongylus megistus B, kindly provided by Dr. Gilmar Jose da Silva Ribeiro Júnior (Fiocruz-Bahia). C shows a live Panstrongylus megistus female captured in the city of Barra do Mendes, Bahia, Brazil. Live triatomines of the species Triatoma sordida found on the floor D and roof E of a chicken house in the rural area of the municipality of Tremedal, Bahia. E shows some T. sordida adult specimens captured for gut content analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The epidemiologic scenario of poor rural communities in many Latin American countries. Mud house with cracks where triatomines can hide (A-C), with detail of a crack in a rural adobe/brick house (A). B Inside of the house illustrated in (A). Mud house with cracks (C) with presence of domestic animals in the environment: dog (D), chickens (E) and pigs (F). These animals can attract triatomines for a blood meal, thus helping maintain the peridomestic cycle of T. cruzi. Photographs were taken in rural areas of the municipalities of Tremedal (A and B) and Irecê, Bahia, Brazil (E–F)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Study selection process, in accordance with the PRISMA model
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Developmental stages of Trypanosoma cruzi in invertebrate (triatomine bug) and vertebrate (dog, cat and human) hosts
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Seroprevalence of Chagas disease in dogs and cats in different endemic countries of North, Central and South America
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Schematic representation of the pathogenesis of Chagas disease in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected dogs
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Schematic representation of the natural history of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in dogs. *In the acute phase, most infected animals are asymptomatic, but when symptomatic, they may present the described clinical signs
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Constitution of the IBMP chimeric recombinant proteins [156, 159, 166]
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