Penchenier Laurent auteur aut IRD Simo G. auteur aut IRD Grébaut Pascal auteur aut IRD Nkinin S. auteur aut IRD Laveissière Claude auteur aut IRD Herder Stéphane auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access During a mass screening of sleeping sickness conducted in 1998 and 1999, and involving 27,932 persons in Cameroon and the Central African Republic, we tested the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on whole blood for the diagnosis of human African trypanosomiasis due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. The 1858 samples obtained were from 4 groups : 155 infected patients, 1432 serological suspects detected by the card agglutination test for trypanosomiasis (CATT), 222 negative controls living in the prospected area (negative methods) and unexposed to the disease (Europeans). The technique of DNA extraction used made it possible to preserve the blood samples in the field. The primers used were specific for T. brucei s.l. Only 1 patient was PCR negative, and 3 of the negative controls, exposed to the disease, were PCR positive. Among the 1432 serological suspects, only 50 were PCR positive. During the 6-month follow-up after the surveys, the PCR results are unlikely to have been due to a cross-reaction with T. brucei brucei, which is non-pathogenic for man, but are more likely to have resulted from a mislabelling of sample tubes. All control indiviudals, exposed or not to the disease, were negative by PCR. The PCR-negative patient was possibly a registration error. Among 50 PCR positive serological suspects, 39 of them were re-examined. Five were found to be positive by the kit for in-vitro isolation of trypanosomes, representing an increase in patients of almost 13%. At the end of the study, 160 patients were diagnosed, and the PCR was positive for 159 of them (99.4%). Moreover, the PCR made it possible to reduce the number of suspects to be re-examined (50 instead of 1432 ; a reduction of 96.5%). (Résumé d'auteur) specialized TRYPANOSOMIASE HUMAINE MALADIE DU SOMMEIL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUE PCR ETUDE COMPARATIVE AFRIQUE CENTRALE CAMEROUN YAOUNDE 052GLOTRY02 94 4 392-394 2000 0035-9203 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010023352 10.1016/S0035-9203(00)90116-0 0035-9203 [F B010023352] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010023352 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_7/b_fdi_55-56/010023352.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2000-01-01 2018-07-10 fdi:010023352 fre