Immunological diagnosis of human cystic echinococcosis: utility of discriminant analysis applied to the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot.
An enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot for the diagnosis of human hydatid disease was performed, and the different antibody responses were analyzed by a discriminant analysis. This multivariate technique gave us, first, a selection of the most important responses against Echinococcus granulosus infection and, second, a procedure for the classification of patients into two groups: patients with hydatid disease and patients without a history of hydatid disease. This method was applied to 67 patients, 25 with active hydatid cysts (24 hepatic and 1 pulmonary) and 42 without a history of hydatid disease and was compared with the results obtained by conventional serology: indirect hemagglutination, latex particle agglutination, and basophil degranulation. An immunoelectrotransfer blot coupled to a discriminant analysis was more sensitive than conventional serological diagnosis and detected 100% of patients with an active hepatic hydatid cyst with a specificity of 100%. This method, however, failed to detect an uncomplicated hyaline pulmonary hydatid cyst.
Department of Medical Microbiology, Clinic Hospital of Valencia, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. igadea@fjd.es
I
I
Gadea
G
G
Ayala
M T
MT
Diago
A
A
Cuñat
J G
JG
de Lomas
D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D006384:Hemagglutination; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests