ASSESSMENT OF ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY BASED DIAGNOSTIC KITS(TOXOKIT-G AND TOXOKIT-M) FOR THE DETECTION OF IGG AND IGM ANTIBODIESTO TOXOPLASMA-GONDII IN HUMAN SERUM

An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using penicillinase was d eveloped in the form of diagnostic kits (Toxokit-G and Toxokit-M) for the detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. The perf ormance of both the kits was compared with commercially available diag nostic kits, i.e. Enzygnost-Toxoplasmosis/IgG (Behring Co., Germany), TOXOTEK-G (Flow Lab., U.K.) and Toxoplasma IgM Microassay (Diamedix Co rp., U.S.A.) by testing toxoplasma-suspected human serum samples. The results indicate a good reliability between these diagnostic kits. Tox okit-G has 86.66 and 96.05% sensitivity and specificity respectively. The main advantage of Toxokit-G is that the end result can be assessed visually without using sophisticated instruments. Toxokit-M has 100% sensitivity and specificity and test results were not affected by the presence of antitoxoplasma IgG antibodies, rheumatoid factor or antinu clear antibodies. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.