EVALUATION OF AN ANTIGEN-CAPTURE ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY FOR DETECTION OF ENTAMOEBA-HISTOLYTICA IN STOOL SAMPLES

In order to identify the prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica in touris ts with diarrhoea returning from countries of the developing world, se nsitivity and specificity of a commercially available enzyme immunoass ay (EIA) kit for the detection of Entamoeba histolytica coproantigen i n stool were evaluated. Five hundred seventy-seven specimens from 469 patients were examined by microscopy and EIA. Sixty-two specimens from 49 patients were considered positive for Entamoeba histolytica, Compa red with microscopic examination of stool samples, the EIA was found t o be slightly more sensitive (90.3% vs. 87.1%) and was 97.7% specific for Entamoeba histolytica.