Comparative study of serological tests in immunological diagnosis for neurocysticercosis

Abstract

Four immunological techniques were evaluated for the detection of antibodies to Cysticercus cellulosae in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF): complement fixation test (CF), passive haem-magglutination test (PHA), indirect immunofluorescence test (IF) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). One-hundred twenty-five CSF from patients with confirmed neurocysticercosis and 94 CSF from a control group (60 from patients suffering from neurological disorders other than neurocysticercosis and 34 from presumably healthy individuals) were assayed. The sensitivity and specificity of the tests were determined, which were, 48.0% and 90.4% for CF; 88 8% and 96.8% for FHA; 87.2% and 98.9% for IF, and 97.6% and 98.9% for ELISA, respectively. There were significative differences among the tests and these allowed to conclude that the best immunodiagnostic test for neurocysticercosis was ELISA, followed by PHA and IF tests.