POLYPROPYLENE FIBER WEB, A NEW MATRIX FOR SAMPLING BLOOD FOR IMMUNODIAGNOSIS OF SCHISTOSOMIASIS

Blood sampling on filter paper is widely used for immunodiagnostic and epidemiological purposes. However, elution of conventional filter pap ers impregnated with sera containing Schistosoma mansoni circulating a nodic antigen (CAA) recovered only a small fraction of the antigen, th ereby reducing the sensitivity of the assay. Polypropylene-based non-w oven fibre web is a new sampling material with a low density of fibres and with a small surface area of contact. When it was impregnated wit h serum containing CAA, approximately 90% of the antigen could be extr acted. The yield of antibodies against S. mansoni from the new samplin g material did not differ from that from conventional filter papers.