Abstract:
Routine microscopical examination of stool specimens for diagnosis of strongyloidiasis is insensitive and serological methods using Strongyloides stercoralis antigen are at present not available for field studies. We evaluated 2 techniques, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and gelatin particle indirect agglutination (GPIA), using an antigen obtained from the rodent parasite, S. venezuelensis. Fifty-four Peruvian patients with different clinical forms of strongyloidiasis were studied: 12 asymptomatic, 31 symptomatic, and 11 hyperinfection cases. Our results demonstrate that both ELISA and GPIA using S. venezuelensis antigen are useful for diagnosis of strongyloidiasis, with sensitivities of 74.1% and 98.2%, respectively and a specificity of 100% for both techniques. We found that GPIA is a highly sensitive test for patients with suspected chronic infection and/or hyperinfection. In the hyperinfection cases, significantly lower concentrations of specific immunoglobulin antibodies and eosinophils (P < 0.001) were found compared with the asymptomatic and symptomatic cases.