IMMUNODIAGNOSIS OF SWINE CYSTICERCOSIS BY INDIRECT ELISA EMPLOYING A HETEROLOGOUS ANTIGEN FROM TAENIA-CRASSICEPS METACESTODE

C. Larralde et al. (1990, Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med., 114:926-928) demons trated that heterologous antigen from the laboratory-adapted murine Ta enia crassiceps metacestode may substitute those from Taenia solium in the immunodiagnosis of human cysticercosis by the indirect enzyme-lin ked immunosorbent assay (IE). ?This antigen is easily obtained at a la boratory level and solves the problem of T. solium cysticerci collecti on from naturally or experimentally infected swine. In this study an I E employing a heterologous antigen from the T. crassiceps metacestode was evaluated for the immunodiagnosis of swine cysticercosis. Sera fro m 300 swine free of T. solium cysticerci by post-mortem examination we re employed to determine two IE cut- off values: 1) Mean ELISA values + 2 standard deviations (2 sigma cut-off) and 2) - Mean ELISA values 3 standard deviations (3 sigma cut-off). The specificity of IE was 97 % with the 2 sigma cut-off and 100% with the 3 sigma cut-off. When app lied to ten sera from swine infected by cysticerci of T. solium by pos t-mortem examination, the sensitivity of IE was 100% independent of th e cut off.