William Cornejo

Evaluation of the dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in comparison with standard ELISA for the immunodiagnosis of human toxocariasis

A dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) was standardized using excretory-secretory antigens of Toxocara canis for the rapid immunodiagnosis of human toxocariasis. Thirty patients with clinical signs of toxocariasis, 20 cases with other parasitic diseases, and 40 healthy subjects were tested. A total of 0.2 ng of antigen per dot, serum dilution of 1:160 and dilution conjugate of 1:1000 were found optimal. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 100 and 95%, respectively. Comparable sensitivity of dot-ELISA and the standard ELISA was obtained, but only 3 cross-reactions occurred in the dot-ELISA, compared with 6 in the standard ELISA. Dot-ELISA is simple to perform, rapid, and low cost. Large-scale screening studies should be done to evaluate its usefulness under field conditions.

La paragonimosis en escolares del Valle de Condebamba, Cajamarca, Perú

RESUMEN Se realizo un estudio de la prevalencia de paragonimosis en escolares de educacion primaria de tres localidades del valle de Condebamba, Departamento de Cajamarca, utilizando la intradermorreaccion y el examen de heces. De las 77 intradermorreacciones practicadas 2 fueron positivas (2,6%), las cuales tambien fueron positivas por contrainmuno-electroforesis. Todas las 77 muestras de heces examinadas fueron negativas a huevos de Paragonimus. Estos resultados muestran una declinacion de casos de paragonimosis humana en el valle de Condebamba