Applicability of the Filter Paper Technique for Detection of Antifilarial Antibodies Using the Bm14 Filariasis CELISA.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Parasitology Research Volume 2010, Article ID 594687, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2010/594687 Research Article Applicability of the Filter Paper Technique for Detection of Antifilarial IgG4 Antibodies Using the Bm14 Filariasis CELISA Hayley M. Joseph and Wayne Melrose Lymphatic Filariasis Support Centre, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia Correspondence should be addressed to Hayley M. Joseph, hayley.joseph@.au Received 17 September 2009; Revised 16 December 2009; Accepted 5 January 2010 Academic Editor: Wej Choochote Copyright © 2010 H. M. Joseph and W. Melrose. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Demonstration of successful elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) in endemic countries requires sensitive diagnostics for accurate definitions of endpoints and future surveillance. There has been interest in complementing available diagnostics with antibody serology testing in children, since negative serology would correspond with cessation of LF transmission. The Filariasis CELISA detects antifilarial IgG4 and has favourable results with serum samples but field application requires an easier sampling method. Ninety-four paired plasma and filter paper samples were assayed with promising results. The filter paper method resulted in a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 77% when compared to the paired plasma. One hundred and one filter paper samples ◦ we