Three enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for diagnosis of Chagas' disease were developed with fixed forms of Trypanosoma cruzi using a panel of 435 sera from the following groups: Venezuelan subjects positive by immunofluorescence (n ؍ 70), Venezuelan healthy controls (n ؍ 85), healthy Canadians (n ؍ 166), and subjects with other parasitic diseases (n ؍ 114). All assays achieved 100% sensitivity and reasonable specificity for amastigotes (97.6%), epimastigotes (98.3%), and trypomastigotes (99.3%). The fixed-trypomastigote assay was stable over 4 months at 4°C and room temperature. These data suggest that a fixed-trypomastigote EIA may be a suitable candidate for blood bank screening.
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