Immunodiffusion, countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis and elisa for detection of circulating schistosomal antigens and antibodies

Circulating schistosomal antigens and antibodies were determined in 34 patients and 26 control using ouchterlony immunodiffusion [I.D.], double countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis [D.C.I.E.] and ELISA methods. The adult S. mansoni antigen was used for detection of antibodies, and rabbit antischistosomal [S. mansoni] adult antiserum was used for detection of schistosomal antigens. The results showed that ELISA technique was the most sensitive, but no difference in the specificity of the three methods. It was concluded that ELISA technique had the highest diagnostic efficacy for detection of both circulating antibodies and antigens when compared to D.C.I.E. and I.D