2017/10/05 by Michael P. Barrett, Jonathan M. Cooper, Clément Regnault +4 · 1 citation
Medicine · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Trypanosoma species research and implications #Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment #Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/pathogens6040047
openalex publication_date 2017/10/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
African trypanosomes are responsible for significant levels of disease in both humans and animals. The protozoan parasites are free-living flagellates, usually transmitted by arthropod vectors, including the tsetse fly. In the mammalian host they live in the bloodstream and, in the case of human-infectious species, later invade the central nervous system. Diagnosis of the disease requires the positive identification of parasites in the bloodstream. This can be particularly challenging where parasite numbers are low, as is often the case in peripheral blood. Enriching parasites from body fluids is an important part of the diagnostic pathway. As more is learned about the physicochemical properties of trypanosomes, this information can be exploited through use of different microfluidic-based approaches to isolate the parasites from blood or other fluids. Here, we discuss recent advances in the use of microfluidics to separate trypanosomes from blood and to isolate single trypanosomes for analyses including drug screening.