Strongyloidiasis is a parasitic roundworm infection caused by an intestinal nematode, Strongyloides stercoralis, of the genus, Enterobius. An estimated figure of 30-100 million people are affected worldwide. In Australia, Strongyloidiasis is more commonly found in individuals travelling or immigrating to and from South East Asia, Africa and South America, people who travel or live in Aboriginal communities, and in World War II veterans.
Common means of infection occurs by skin contact with soil contaminated by Strongyloides larvae. Additionally, an association between infection of Strongyloides stercoralis and individuals infected with Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus-1 (HTLV-1) (present in Central Australian Aboriginal people) have a higher risk of developing a severe case of strongyloidiasis.
Strongyloides stercoralis has an auto-infection ability and will can persist for many decades within the host. Life threatening complications of the infection for example hyperinfection and dissemination can develop in the occurrence of immunosuppression, either by medical conditions or treatments; hence a reliable diagnostic technique is important.
Proper diagnosis and detection of Strongyloidiasis is essential for individuals who are starting treatments that affect their immune systems. Detection is also important for the evaluation of the prevalence Stronyloides stercoralis infections in populations, since it is a problem that overall prevalence is likely to be underestimated due to a lack of sensitivity in the commonly used faecal tests in assessing Strongyloides stercoralis infection.
The evaluation performed was to determine the performance of NovaTec NovaLisa™ Strongyloides ELISA, in comparison to the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) in-house and Pathology Queensland assays.
The principle of the NovaTec NovaLisa™ Strongyloides ELISA assay is to determine the qualitative immunoenzymatic determination of IgG and IgM class antibodies as a possible sero-diagnostic technique to be used at Pathology North, Royal North Shore Hospital.