Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Parasitic Diseases,Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences,Hangzhou,Zhejiang,P.R. China
  • 2 Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Disease Prevention and Control,Nanning,Guangxi,P.R. China
  • 3 Department of Parasitology,Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital,Mahidol University,Bangkok,Thailand
  • 4 Institute of Biological Sciences,University of Malaya,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
J Helminthol, 2019 Jan;93(1):26-32.
PMID: 29144215 DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X17001080

Abstract

Human gnathostomiasis is an emerging food-borne parasitic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Gnathostoma. Currently, serological tests are commonly applied to support clinical diagnosis. In the present study, a simple and rapid filtration-based test, dot immune-gold filtration assay (DIGFA) was developed using a partially purified antigen of Gnathostoma third-stage larvae (L3). A total of 180 serum samples were tested to evaluate the diagnostic potential of DIGFA for gnathostomiasis. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 96.7% (29/30) and 100% (25/25), respectively. The cross-reactivity with sera from other helminthiasis patients ranged from 0 to 4%, with an average of 1.6% (2/125). DIGFA using a partially purified L3 antigen was not only simple and rapid, but also more accurate than standard assays for the diagnosis of human gnathostomiasis. DIGFA may represent a promising tool for application in laboratories or in the field, without requiring any instrumentation.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.