Chagas disease affects 8-11 million people throughout the Americas. Early detection is crucial for timely treatment and to prevent non-vectorial transmission. Recombinant antigen-based rapid tests had high sensitivity and specificity in laboratory evaluations, but no Peruvian specimens were included in previous studies. We evaluated Stat-Pak and Trypanosoma Detect rapid tests in specimens from Bolivia and Peru. Specimens positive by three conventional assays were confirmed positives; specimens negative by two or more assays were confirmed negatives. In Bolivian specimens, Stat-Pak and Trypanosoma Detect tests were 87.5% and 90.7% sensitive, respectively; both showed 100% specificity. Sensitivity in Peruvian specimens was much lower: 26.6-33.0% (Stat-Pak) and 54.3-55.2% (Trypanosoma Detect); both had specificities > 98%. Even in Bolivian specimens, these sensitivities are inadequate for stand-alone screening. The low sensitivity in Peru may be related to parasite strain differences. Chagas disease rapid tests should be field tested in each geographic site before widespread implementation for screening.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 October 2026.
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#5,176,210
of 34,518,147 outputs
Outputs from The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
#1,764
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#20,669
of 152,040 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
#14
of 53 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,518,147 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,497 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.3. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 53 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 64% of its contemporaries.
