IMMUNODIAGNOSIS OF HUMAN TRICHINOSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIFIC ANTIGEN FOR TRICHINELLA-SPIRALIS

Crude antigens obtained from the infective stage larvae of Trichinella spiralis were used in an ELISA for detecting IgG antibodies to T. spi ralis in serum samples collected from three groups of individuals. The individuals of the first group were parasitologically confirmed trich inellosis patients, while those of group 2 were patients with other he lminthiasis and group 3 were healthy, parasite-free individuals. The s pecificity of the assay was 96.8% when performed on sera of groups 2 a nd 3. Cross-reaction was observed with the sera of patients with capil lariasis, gnathostomiasis, opisthorchiasis, and strongyloidiasis and o pisthorchiasis with hookworm infection, The sensitivity of the test wa s 100% when performed on sera of group 1, which were collected 57 days after infection, Western blot analysis revealed that a specific antig en for T. spiralis was a component of M(r) 109.