Utility ofSchistosoma bovisAdult Worm Antigens for Diagnosis of Human Schistosomiasis by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and Electroimmunotransfer Blot Techniques

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Abstract
Immunodiagnostic methods based on the detection of antibodies continue to be the most effective and practical methods for the diagnosis of imported schistosomiasis.Schistosoma bovisis a species whose final natural hosts are bovines, ovines, caprines, and small wild ruminants. Different studies have demonstrated the analogies existing betweenS. bovisand otherSchistosomaspecies which affect humans. The objective of this work was to evaluate the utility ofS. bovisadult worm antigens (AWA) for the diagnosis of imported human schistosomiasis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and electroimmunotransfer blotting (EITB) techniques. By detecting eggs, the ELISA forS. bovisAWA was able to definitively detect imported cases with a sensitivity of 94%. The specificity of the ELISA forS. bovisAWA was 97%. There were no differences between the results of theS. bovisAWA ELISA for patients infected withSchistosoma mansoniand those infected withSchistosoma haematobium. The EITB technique showed bands of 85, 37, and 20 kDa, which are characteristic of infections withSchistosomaspp. Specific bands to indicate infection by different species ofSchistosomahave not been detected. The combined use of the ELISA forS. bovisAWA and EITB increased the global sensitivity of the study to 97%. Our findings suggest that the ELISA forS. bovisAWA is a useful test for the immunodiagnosis of imported schistosomiasis and that EITB for detectingS. bovisAWA permits the confirmation of diagnosis when the ELISA forS. bovisAWA is positive.

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