Abstract

Lateral flow test (LFT) which is based on antibodies raised against the Trypanosoma brucei peptide was evaluated for its analytical sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values in order to assess its utility for surveillance of trypanosome infections in tsetse flies. The diagnostic test agreement of the FLT and microscopy was 91.0% and kappa value of 80.5% at the confidence interval 0.72 to 0.80 which is a high level of test agreement. Furthermore, the relative diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of lateral flow test were 83.0 and 96.0%, respectively. Both the positive predictive and the negative predictive values were high at 92.7 and 90.0%, respectively. The LFT is, therefore, recommended for surveillance of trypanosomes in tsetse flies in order to: (i) indicate areas with tsetse infected with trypanosomes; (ii) indicate tsetse infected with potentially human pathogenic trypanosomes and (iii) guide in prioritizing control strategies for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).

Key words: Lateral flow test, detection, xenomonitoring, trypanosomes, tsetse flies.