Comparison of indirect haemagglutination test and elisa in relation to kato method for diagnosis of schistosoma mansoni

ABSTRACT

Schistosomiasis is a very widespread disease in the developing world and is one of the most important helminth infections in public health terms. As a behavior related disease, the risk of infection with schistosomiasis is associated to age,sex,and occupation of individuals. This study aimed to detect the reliable method for diagnosis of schistosomiasis in correlation to their sensitivity and specificity. This work was conducted on 75 patients 46 of them were below 25 years age and 29 were above, 48 of them were males and 27 were females. They were complaining of different manifestations of intestinal schistosomiasis, subjected to history taking and clinical examinations. Stool examination was performed by Kato-Katz technique. Blood samples were withdrawn for antibodies against S. mansoni by ELISA and Indirect Haemagglutination test [IHA].S. mansoni eggs were detected among 38 [50.7%] by microscopic examination [18 of them <25 years and 20 cases >25 years old], while antibodies were recorded among 43 [57.3%] and 45 [60%] by both ULISA and IHA respectively, non significant differences were recorded between the three applied methods of examination . On comparing IHA with Kato-Katz technique as gold standard method of diagnosis, it showed 80% sensitivity and 93.3% specificity. On the other hand ELISA revealed high sensitivity and specificity 96.9% and 90.7% respectively. On comparing Kato-Katz technique to IHA it showed low sensitivity and specificity; 78.9% and 59.5% respectively .In conclusion, Kato thick smear method for diagnosis of schistosomiasis is cheap, but is time consuming and have poor specificity and sensitivity while IHA is a good diagnostic tool as it is easily applicable and specific. ELISA gave the most reliable outcome because it increased considerably the sensitivity in all stages of infection with maintenance of high specificity