Summary A pilot study was carried out on the detection of trypanosome‐specific antibodies in saliva for diagnosis of sleeping sickness. All twenty‐three saliva samples of parasitologically confirmed Trypanosoma brucei gambiense patients tested positive in an indirect enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, whereas all 14 saliva samples of a negative control group remained negative. Trypanosome‐specific antibody levels in patient saliva correlated with antibody levels in serum, but were about 250‐fold lower. Eight of 23 undiluted saliva samples of sleeping sickness patients tested positive in CATT/T. b. gambiense and two of 23 in LATEX/T. b. gambiense. All fourteen saliva samples of the negative control group were also positive in CATT/T. b. gambiense, as were four of 14 in LATEX/T. b. gambiense. CATT and LATEX were thus inappropriate for antibody detection in saliva. These results indicate that trypanosome‐specific antibody detection in saliva is possible. This could lead to the development of a simple, non‐invasive, reliable saliva field test for diagnosis of sleeping sickness.

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