Immunodiagnosis of fascioliasis using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of Fasciola gigantica paramyosin antigen

BACKGROUND: Many immunological techniques have been developed over years using the different Fasciola antigens for diagnosis of parasitic infection and to replace the parasitological techniques, which are time consuming and usually lack sensitivity and reproducibility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, Fasciola gigantica paramyosin (Pmy) antigen was early detected in cattle sera using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), to evaluate the Pmy antigen performance in diagnosis. This work was conducted on 135 cattle blood samples, which were classified according to parasitological investigation into, healthy control (30), fascioliasis (75), and other parasites (30) groups. RESULTS: The sensitivity of Sandwich ELISA was 97.33%, and the specificity was 95%, in comparison with parasitological examination, which recorded 66.66% sensitivity and 100% specificity, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It was clear that the native F. gigantica Pmy is considered as a powerful antigen in early immunodiagnosis of fascioliasis, using a highly sensitive and specific sandwich ELISA technique.