Schistosomiasis is a tropical, parasitic infection caused by trematode flatworms from the Schistosomitidae family. The main species that cause the disease in humans are Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma japonicum, Schistosoma mekongi, and Schistosoma intercalatum. Schistosomiasis affects 200 million people (1 in 30) worldwide, and the disease causes an estimated 12,000 to 200,000 deaths annually. Commonly found in places with poor sanitation, Schistosoma species are endemic in more than 70 countries with a wide distribution in Africa, South America, China and parts of Indonesia.
Clinical representations for acute schistosomiasis (2 to 12 weeks) develop headache, fever, abdominal pains, diarrhoea and in 40-95% of individuals, eosinophilia. After onset of acute symptoms, most patients become asymptomatic, though complications (rare) come from ectopic distribution of eggs in the central nervous system. Prolonged, chronic schistosomiasis can develop kidney failure, liver damage, infertility or bladder cancer, as well as learning difficulties and stunted growth in children.
Effective disease management of schistosomiasis is hindered by the lack of reliable diagnostic techniques since correct diagnosis is essential to prevention and control. The gold standard for schistosomiasis diagnosis involves parasitological detection (Kato-Katz method). A disadvantage of this method is the variable sensitivity depending on rates of egg excretion. Furthermore, it is time-consuming and labour intensive, thus is not a suitable procedure for mass scale surveillance and management of the disease.
Serological detection of Schistosoma antigens/antibodies is more sensitive and less time consuming than parasitological detection. For these reasons, serological diagnosis is suitable for screening and disease surveillance.
The evaluation performed aims to determine the performance of NovaTec NovaLisa™ Schistosoma mansoni IgG ELISA, in comparison to the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR) in-house and Pathology Queensland assays, in the detection of IgG class antibodies as a possible sero-diagnostic technique to be used at Pathology North, Royal North Shore Hospital.