COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF AGAR-GEL PRECIPITATION, COUNTERIMMUNOELECTROPHORESIS AND PASSIVE HEMAGGLUTINATION TESTS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF DICROCOELIUM-DENDRITICUM INFECTION IN SHEEP AND GOATS

The sensitivity and specificity of the agar gel precipitation test (AG PT), counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and passive haemagglutinatio n test (PHT) were evaluated for the diagnosis of Dicrocoelium dendriti cum infection in naturally infected sheep and goats. Two hundred and f orty five sheep and goat sera samples were tested using phosphate buff ered saline, pH 7.2 extracted adult fluke antigen. CLEF detected 69.8% of the infected animals and was found to be the most sensitive, follo wed by PHT which detected 50.0% of the infected sheep and goats. AGPT was found to be the least sensitive, detecting only 23.8% of the infec ted animals. The specificity of AGPT, CIEP and PHT were 93.3%, 84.0% a nd 93.3%, respectively. CIEP was found to be the most sensitive, speci fic and rapid test for the seroepidemiological survey of dicrocoeliosi s in sheep and goats.