Evaluation of specific antibody responses in early stage human trichinellosis

Objective: Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease in humans caused by Trichinella sp. Since the signs and symptoms due to Trichinellosis are not pathognomonic, the detection of serum antibodies is useful for the early diagnosis. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the specific antibody responses in confirmed cases of a trichinellosis outbreak, caused by T. britovi in Turkey. Material and Methods: Serum samples from 171 trichinellosis patients, 127 healthy individuals and 32 patients with other parasitosis were examined for IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using excretory/secretory (ES) antigen. Results: IgG responses were positive in all patients, whereas IgA and IgM responses were positive in 50.9% and 59.6%, respectively. The specificity of antibody assays was 97.5% for IgA and IgM and 99.4% for IgG antibodies. According to the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of IgG, IgA and IgM ELISA were 99.7%, 74.2% and 78.6%, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that IgG ELISA using ES antigen is the choice for diagnosis and in house IgM ELISA is more sensitive than IgA ELISA in diagnosing trichinellosis about 3-6 weeks after consumption of suspected meat. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report presenting specific IgA and IgM antibody responses in such a large group of serum samples obtained in a T. britovi outbreak. © 2013 by Türkiye Klinikleri.