ABSTRACT
An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using excretory-secretory antigens of the second stage larvae maintained in vitro was used to determine the seroprevalence of Toxocara antibodies in Orang Asli (aborigines) of Peninsular Malaysia. The mean + 3 SD optical density of 30 healthy subjects was used as the cut-off point. Overall prevalence was found to be 31.9%. No significant relationship was found between positive rates with sex and age groups, though children between 0 to 9 years recorded the highest positive rates. Eosinophil counts were found to be closely related to the proportion of positivity to toxocaral infection and mean optical densities. There was some degree of cross-reaction with Trichuris trichuria positive sera.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Animals , Antibodies, Helminth/blood , Child , Child, Preschool , Racial Groups , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods , Eosinophils/cytology , Female , Humans , Infant , Larva Migrans, Visceral/blood , Leukocyte Count , Malaysia/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander , Prevalence , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Sex Factors , Toxocara canis/immunologyABSTRACT
Malarial antibodies in 80 patients were measured using the diffusion-in-gel enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (DIG-ELISA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test. Good correlations were obtained between all three tests in terms of sensitivity and reliability. DIG-ELISA has the advantage of being a rapid diagnostic tool for the detection of malarial antibodies.