Molecular diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi

Chagas disease, caused by the kinetoplastid protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, affects millions of people, most of them neglected populations. The different phases of the disease, the transmission mode and the high genetic variability of the parasite determine that molecular detection methods display different degree of success. Molecular diagnostic tests may be employed during epidemiological surveys of transmission, for early diagnosis of congenital transmission and acute infections due to oral transmission, transfusion or transplantation routes, reactivation due to immunosuppression and monitoring of treatment response in chronically infected patients receiving trypanocidal chemotherapy. This manuscript summarizes the most widely used molecular tools to detect T. cruzi infection in different epidemiological and clinical scenarios.