ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: Nasal myiasis is a serious parasitic disease among camels caused by Cephalopina titillator larvae that negatively affect animal health and production globally. The diagnosis of the infestation relies on postmortem examination of the head region, which considers a cause impeding treatment of live animals and may be misdiagnosed as central nervous system disorders. This study aimed to identify the most diagnostic larval antigen with the capacity for monitoring C. titillator infestation, and to estimate the seroprevalence of nasal myiasis in camels in Egypt, using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Materials and Methods: Three hundred and six male camels of Egyptian and Sudanese breeds, aged 2-5 years, were clinically evaluated for respiratory and/or nervous disorders in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. At the time of slaughter, blood samples were collected from all examined animals. The postmortem examination of 38 animals was conducted. Salivary glands, hemolymph, and somatic antigens were extracted from the second and third larval instars. Results: The results revealed that the salivary gland antigen was the most potent antigen in detecting C. titillator specific total IgG antibodies compared to haemolymph and crude somatic antigens. Using receiver-operating characteristic curves and area under the curve, the salivary gland antigen had a sensitivity of 91.67% and a specificity of 92.31%, respectively. It has the highest positive predictive value, 95.7%, and negative predictive value, 85.7%. However, using somatic and hemolymph antigens revealed a sensitivity of 79.17% and 70.83% and a specificity of 76.9% and 84.6%, respectively. There was complete concordance between ELISA results and autopsy findings (true positive). One hundred and forty out of 306 (45.8%) camel serum samples were found to contain C. titillator. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that salivary gland antigen is more effective than somatic and hemolymph antigens in accurately detecting nasal myiasis in camels. In addition, determining the seroprevalence of nasal myiasis with the salivary gland antigen through indirect ELISA revealed that it is a prevalent disease among camels in Egypt. Periodic surveillance of the C. titillator prevalence is necessary for effective management and control measures.
ABSTRACT
Seven swine were experimentally infected with Taenia solium eggs and blood samples from each animal were periodically collected. At the end of the experiment (t140) the animals did not show clinical aspects of cysticercosis or parasites in tongue inspection. All animals were slaughtered and cut into thin slices in searching for cysts. The number of cysts found in each animal varied from 1 to 85. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests for antibody (Ab) detection and for antigen (Ag) detection were performed, which presented respectively 71 and 57 percent of positivity. By immunoblot (IB), using 18/14(T. crassiceps Ag) or lentil-lectin-purified glycoproteins from T. solium Ag (LLGP) as Ag, five (71 percent) and six (86 percent) animals were positive, respectively. The association between Ag-ELISA with any IB (18/14 or LLGP) allowed the detection of all animals at 140 days post-experimental infection (days p.e.i.). The use of IB 18/14 combined to the Ag-ELISA allowed the detection of all animals since 70 days p.e.i., and the association between IB LLGP and Ag-ELISA allowed the detection of all animals since 112 days p.e.i. While all animals could be considered healthy by conventional screening tests, the use of immunoassays for detecting Ab and Ag showed better accuracy; therefore it would be more useful than usual clinical examination for screening cysticercosis in slightly infected pigs.
