INVESTIGATION OF CROSS-REACTIONS AGAINST TRICHINELLA-SPIRALIS ANTIGENS BY ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY AND ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOELECTROTRANSFER BLOT ASSAY IN PATIENTS WITH VARIOUS DISEASES

Data regarding cross-reactions against Trichinella spiralis in humans are scarce and controversial. For this reason, we tested serum samples from patients with typhoid fever, brucellosis, toxoplasmosis, amoebia sis, cysticercosis, trichocephaliasis, ascariasis, and onchocerciasis against an antigenic extract of T. spiralis infective larvae in an enz yme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an enzyme-linked immunoelec trotransfer blot (EITB) assay. All except one serum sample from the gr oup of patients with onchocerciasis were negative in the ELISA; in the EITB assay, only faint bands were observed with the samples from pati ents,vith onchocerciasis and ascariasis and negative results were obta ined with the samples from patients with other diseases. In conclusion , cross-reactions were found only in the groups of patients with other nematode infections and were of very low magnitude, most of them virt ually negative.