Loop-mediated isothermal amplification test for Trypanosoma vivax based on satellite repeat DNA

Trypanosoma vivax is major cause of animal trypanosomiasis and responsible for enormous economic burden in Africa and South America animal industry. T. vivax infections mostly run low parasitaemia with no apparent clinical symptoms, making diagnosis a challenge. This work reports the design and evaluation of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test for detecting T. vivax DNA based on the nuclear satellite repeat sequence. The assay is rapid with results obtained within 35 min. The analytical sensitivity is ∼1 trypanosome/ml while that of the classical PCR tests ranged from 10 to 103 trypanosomes/ml. The T. vivax LAMP test reported here is simple, robust and has future potential in diagnosis of animal trypanosomiasis in the field.