Evaluation of Two ELISA and Two Indirect Hemagglutination Tests for Serodiagnosis of Pulmonary Hydatid Disease

To establish a definite diagnosis for pulmonary hydatid disease, combination of radiology and serology is useful. In this study, 19 preoperative sera from patients with surgically confirmed pulmonary hydatidosis, 40 sera from patients with other parasitosis and pulmonary diseases, and 20 sera from healthy donors were evaluated using 4 different serological tests, i.e., the commercial ELISA (ELISA-kit) test, the ELISA (ELISA-lab) test prepared in our laboratory, the commercial indirect hemagglutination assay kit (IHA-kit) test, and the IHA test using sensitized sheep red blood cells with tannic acid (IHA-TA). The ELISA-kit was the most sensitive (84.2%) and the most specific test (100.0%). The ELISA-kit also demonstrated the highest positive (100.0%) and negative (95.2%) predictive values. The sensitivity of the ELISA-lab test, that we prepared, was found to be 73.6%, whereas the IHA-kit test and the IHA-TA test were found to be 73.6% and 68.4%, respectively. The specificity of these tests was 96.6%, 98.3%, and 83.3%, respectively. When all 4 tests were assessed together, it was found that the sensitivity had risen to 94.7%. When the ELISA-kit was assessed with the IHA-kit and IHA-TA together, it was found that the sensitivity was 89.5% and 84.2%, respectively. Likewise, the combination of the ELISA-lab and IHA-kit or IHA-TA allowed us to achieve a sensitivity of 84.2% in cases of pulmonary echinococcosis. In conclusion, the diagnosis would be imminent if least 2 tests were applied together.

effects of electromagnetic waves on the growth of Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of electromagnetic radiation of a digital Global System for Mobile Communication mobile telephone [900 MHz] on Entamoeba histolytica [E. histolytica] and Entamoeba dispar [E. dispar] [cysts or trophozoites, or both] in a 24-hour period. This study was carried out from April 2004 to May 2004 at the Department of Parasitology, Medical Faculty of Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey. The cultivated isolate tubes, which were exposed to electromagnetic field at 37OC, were evaluated as study group, whereas the tubes without exposure were assessed as control group. Finally, only living parasites in all tubes were counted using a hemacytometer. The effect of the temperature was evaluated for both control and study groups. The influence of electromagnetic field and temperature was assessed separately for the study group. The parasite number of E. histolytica decreased after exposure at 37OC and room temperature [p=0.009] compared to the decrease in the control group [p=0.009]. The parasite number of E. dispar also decreased after exposure at 37OC and room temperature [p=0.009]. In comparison to control tubes, this was a significant decrease [p=0.008]. In the case of exposure of E. histolytica the results did not reveal any significant difference between temperature degrees to magnetic field [p=0.459] and E. dispar [p=0.172]. Our findings show that exposure to electromagnetic field for a certain period of time may cause damage that can lead to death in single-cell organisms