Aj. Terhell et al., A FILTER-PAPER TECHNIQUE FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTI-FILARIAL IGG(4) INLYMPHATIC FILARIASIS, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 90(2), 1996, pp. 196-198
Citations number
10
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Tropical Medicine
In a previous study performed in south Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan), In
donesia, me established that the immunoglobulin G(4) (IgG(4)) enzyme-l
inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a suitable community diagnostic m
ethod and that it can distinguish areas of high and low prevelances wi
thin short distances. In an attempt to make this diagnostic tool more
applicable in the field, a comparative study using serum and blood col
lected on filter paper was undertaken with 568 individuals living in 2
areas with different endemicity for brugian filariasis in south Sulaw
esi. In Mamuju district, where the microfilaria (mf) prevalence of the
studied individuals was 18.4%, antifilarial IgG(4) was present in 73.
1% of the venepuncture samples and 72.5% of the filter paper samples,
respectively. In Mangkutane district, where lymphatic filariasis is tr
ansmitted at a low level (mf rare 2.4%), antifilarial IgG(4) was detec
ted in 35.5% and 39.9% of similar samples, respectively. There was no
significant difference in the IgG(4) detection rate determined from ve
nepuncture and filter paper samples from the same donors (P=0.124), an
d the IgG(4) values were highly correlated (rho=0.97, P<0.001, n=568).
These results indicate that the filter paper technique for collection
of blood samples is a suitable alternative to venepuncture for use in
the IgG(4) ELISA.