title: Seroprevalence of Toxocara infection in children from southern Brazil.
abstract: The seroprevalence of Toxocara canis antibodies in children aged from 1 to 12 yr old was evaluated in Pelotas City, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Human toxocariasis or visceral larva migrans (VLM) was diagnosed with the use of an ELISA based on the T. canis excretory-secretory (TES) antigens; Western blotting was used to confirm the ELISA-positive results. From 427 samples, 50.6% were positive for the presence of anti-TES antibodies. A confirmatory test (Western blot) was carried out on a sample of the ELISA-positive sera (n = 70), and all were positive. The Western blots had specific banding pattern characteristics, where the 30-kDa fraction demonstrated the highest reactivity. This fraction could be important for the specific diagnosis of toxocariasis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia, Fundação Universidade de Rio Grande, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elizandra R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Schoenardie
authors.forename: Carlos J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Scaini
authors.forename: Claudiomar S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Brod
authors.forename: Michele S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pepe
authors.forename: Marcos M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Villela
authors.forename: Alan J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.forename: Sibele
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borsuk
authors.forename: Maria E A
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Berne
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000909:Antibodies, Helminth / Q000097:blood*; D000947:Antigens, Helminth / Q000276:immunology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004285:Dogs; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017166:Toxocara canis / Q000276:immunology*; D014120:Toxocariasis / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000909:Antibodies, Helminth; D000947:Antigens, Helminth