DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES TO PARASTRONGYLUS CANTONENSIS IN HUMAN SERA BY GELATIN PARTICLE INDIRECT AGGLUTINATION TEST

A newly developed agglutination test using gelatin particles as an antigen carrier (GPAT) was compared with a conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of Parastrongylus cantonensis antibodies in sera from patients. A total of 70 sera was used in the study. Of these, 10 each were from patients with parastrongyliasis, gnathostomiasis, paragonimiasis, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, filariasis and malaria. The control group consisted of 50 serum samples from normal healthy individuals. The mean reciprocal titer of the parastrongyliasis patients group was significantly higher than that of the normal group as well as those of other parasitic infections. The sensitivity and specificity of the GPAT were 100% and 92.4%, respectively. The results of GPAT in detecting P. cantonensis antibodies appeared to be closely correlated with those obtained with ELISA. The GPAT, however, is more easy, rapid and cheap; it may also be a test of choice for routine immunodiagnosis of human parastrongyliasis.