Intradermal reactions with filaria antigens

Intradermal reactions to antigens prepared from D. medinensis and from D. immitis have been carried out among two groups of children between the ages of 6-12 years, together with a parallel examination of single thick smear preparations of peripheral blood taken to establish the presence of noc urnal microfilariasis. Results from this survey do not confirm the findings by other workers in this region, but that this test is of diagnostic value. Whilst the antigen prepared from D. immitis was shown to possess a slightly greater degree of sensitivity, the results obtained were not sufficiently reliable to merit recommentation of this test in the investigation of endemic filariasis (AU)