SEROEPIDEMIOLOGY OF ABDOMINAL ANGIOSTRONGYLIASIS - THE STANDARDIZATION OF AN IMMUNOENZYMATIC ASSAY AND PREVALENCE OF ANTIBODIES IN 2 LOCALITIES IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
C. Graeffteixeira et al., SEROEPIDEMIOLOGY OF ABDOMINAL ANGIOSTRONGYLIASIS - THE STANDARDIZATION OF AN IMMUNOENZYMATIC ASSAY AND PREVALENCE OF ANTIBODIES IN 2 LOCALITIES IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL, TM & IH. Tropical medicine & international health, 2(3), 1997, pp. 254-260
Abdominal angiostrongyliasis is a nematode disease produced by Angiost
rongylus costaricensis, a metastrongylid parasite of wild rodents. Acc
idental human infection occurs through ingestion of food or water cont
aminated with third-stage larvae present in the mucous secretion of te
rrestrial molluscs. An ELISA test was standardized for detection of Ig
G antibodies recognizing a surface antigen prepared from female worms.
Competitive absorption of sera with Ascaris suum crude antigen result
ed in a test with 86% sensitivity and 83% specificity. The disease is
endemic in Southern Brazil and a number of cases are diagnosed every y
ear through anatomo-pathological examination of biopsies or surgical s
pecimens, since no other diagnostic method is available. According to
seroepidemiological studies, prevalences in two transmission foci are
23.8 and 66%, attesting to the widespread occurrence of the infection
in those endemic areas.