Imaging Trypanosoma cruzi within tissues from chagasic patients using confocal microscopy with monoclonal antibodies

Confocal fluorescence microscopy combined with differential interference contrast imaging of tissues from chagasic patients enabled the unequivocal identification of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Using different monoclonal antibodies that indicate the parasite form and replication stage in conjunction with DNA labelling, specimens derived from distinct clinical forms of the disease were examined. Intracellular amastigote forms of the parasite were clearly detected in heart, brain, skin, lung, and kidney. Dividing amastigotes as well as trypomastigote forms were recognized in samples obtained from patients undergoing either acute-phase or some form of reactivation caused by immunosuppression.