title: Development of an antibody-detection ELISA for Fasciola hepatica and its evaluation against a commercially available test.
abstract: An ELISA was developed for the detection of Fasciola hepatica antibody in serum of cattle. The assay was applied to sera from 258 naturally infected cattle, 256 non-infected cattle and six calves experimentally infected with F. hepatica. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA test was 98% (95% confidence intervals, 96-100%) and 96% (95% confidence intervals, 93-98%) respectively at a cut-off value of 15% positivity. The results using sera from the experimentally infected calves showed that antibodies were first detected 2-4 weeks after infection. The ELISA test was also compared to the commercially available Bio-X bovine F. hepatica ELISA kit. A subset of 39 positive sera and 47 negative sera were selected from the samples used to evaluate the in-house test. The results indicated that the agreement between the two tests was almost perfect (k statistic=0.82).
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Parasitology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine/Faculty of Veterinary Science, Pembroke Place, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Salimi-Bejestani
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: McGarry
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Felstead
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akca
authors.forename: D J L
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood; D000947:Antigens, Helminth; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D005210:Fasciola hepatica / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000662:veterinary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000909:Antibodies, Helminth; D000947:Antigens, Helminth; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic