A New Development in Trypanosoma cruzi Detection

Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in areas of Latin America where Chagas disease is endemic and among infected individuals who have migrated to nonendemic areas of North America and Europe. There are many diagnostic tests that are employed in the serological diagnosis of this infection. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Bautista-Lopez et al. provide characterization of excretory vesicles (EVs) from Vero cells infected with T. cruzi and provide data on the EVs produced by trypomastigotes and amastigotes (N. L. Bautista-Lopez et al., J Clin Microbiol 55:744-758, 2017, https://doi. org/10.1128/JCM.01649-16). Their proteomic study defines potential targets to evaluate for improved diagnostic tests, effects on host cell biology that contribute to the pathogenesis of infection, and vaccine candidates. If any of the EV-associated proteins identified were to be correlated to cure of infection, this would be a major advance.