title: Efficacy of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as a diagnostic tool for schistosomiasis mansoni in individuals with low worm burden.
abstract: IgM-ELISA is an immunoenzymatic method useful for detection of IgM antibodies against a fraction of Schistosoma mansoni adult worm antigen (AWA) that is soluble in trichloroacetic acid (AWA-TCA). This method was applied to three groups of individuals with different clinical and epidemiological characteristics, and the results compared with those obtained by other diagnostic methods: immunofluorescence test for detection of IgM antibodies (IgM-IFT) or IgG antibodies (IgG-IFT), ELISA for detection of IgG antibodies (IgG-ELISA), and two parasitological methods, Kato-Katz and miracidium hatching. The IgM-ELISA presented a sensitivity of 98%, when the parasitologic fecal examination was defined as reference diagnostic method, and a specificity of 98 and 97.3%, respectively for the group of clinically healthy individuals and other helminth carriers. A comparative analysis between the results of IgM-ELISA and those obtained by other serologic tests showed a good degree of agreement, with Kappa indices ranging from 0.95 to 0.98. The diagnostic efficacy of 97.8%, as determined with schistosomiasis patients with low parasitic burden, suggests the excellent performance of the IgM-ELISA and its usefulness for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis when applied in low endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, 05315-970 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. edwardjo@usp.br
authors.forename: Edward José de
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Hermínia Yohko
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kanamura
authors.forename: Dirce Mary Correia
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood*; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000276:immunology*; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000909:Antibodies, Helminth; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M