Abdominal angiostrongyliasis is a potentially fatal
zoonotic disease with a broad geographical distribution throughout Central and
South America. This study assessed the performance of
Angiostrongylus costaricensis
eggs as the
antigen in an
indirect immunofluorescence assay for the
determination of
parasite-specific
IgG and
IgG1 antibodies. For
prevalence studies, an
IgG antibody titre > 16 was identified as the diagnostic threshold with the best performance, providing 93.7 percent
sensitivity and 84.6 percent
specificity. Cross reactivity was evaluated with 65 additional samples from
patients with other known
parasitic infections. Cross reactivity was observed only in samples from individuals infected with
Strongyloides stercoralis. For
clinical diagnosis, we recommend the
determination of
IgG only as a
screening test.
IgG1 determination may be used to increase the
specificity of the results for
patients with a positive
screening test.