Development of an Antibody-Based Elisa for Detection of Fasciola gigantica Infection in Water Buffaloes

Mildred  A. Padilla,; Wilfred  U. Tiu,; Luz  P. Acosta,; Fe  F. Aligui,; Rizalito  P. Ilagan,

Development of an Antibody-Based Elisa for Detection of Fasciola gigantica Infection in Water Buffaloes

Mildred A. Padilla | Wilfred U. Tiu | Luz P. Acosta | Fe F. Aligui | Rizalito P. Ilagan

Discipline: Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science

Abstract:

In this paper, the development of an antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to Fasciola gigantica in sera from 49 water buffaloes is described. The excretory-secretory products of adult F. gigantica Philippine strain, was used as the antigen in the ELISA. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA were 78.8% and 62.5%, respectively. ELISA correlated poorly with fecalysis currently used to diagnose fasciolosis in ruminants (Pearson's r= 0.267; P>0.05; 2-tailed). There was cross reactivity in sera from buffaloes infected with amphistomes. The results demonstrate the limitations of the indirect ELISA for detecting antibodies in the sera from buffaloes naturally infected with F. gigantica.