Abstract:
The parasitic disease schistosomiasis has been present in the
country for over a century due to difficulties in controlling and
eradicating the disease. However, since patients are asymptomatic
during the early stages of infection, the diagnosis of
schistosomiasis is challenging. The widely-used stool exam,
unfortunately, has low sensitivity to provide accurate prevalence
data. The circumoval precipitin test (COPT) is a highly specific
and sensitive test has high diagnostic potential. However,
modifications must be made to further raise the sensitivity of the
test. It was the aim of this study to compare the quantity and
antigenicity of Schistosoma japonicum eggs from mice liver and
intestine for the improvement of COPT to further enhance the test.
Murine infection was done to obtain antigen and sera for COPT.
Results showed that there is a significant difference in the
antigenicity of S. japonicum eggs between the liver and intestine (p
=0.015). However, there is no significant difference in the egg
yield between the two organs (p = 0.359) though the egg counts
were consistently higher in the liver than the intestine. Due to the
higher percentage of eggs that exhibit positive COP reactions, the
use of liver-derived eggs for COPT is recommended.
