Immunological Characterization Of The Antigens Of Hydatid Cyst Fluid.

Abstract

Experimentally, two hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) antigens (antigens 4 and 5) were found to be the most immunogenic antigens in HCF. The two antigens were precipitated together from HCF. This was done by adding 2M phosphotungstic acid and 2M magnesium chloride pollutions to clarified HCF whilte continuously stirring the mixture. The precipitate formed was suspend in physiological saline (PS). This antigens solutions was used to coat microtitre plates fro indirect ELISA. Indirect ELISA was performed on 180 randomly selected bovine sera. The sensitivity of the test was found to be 98% while the specificity was 70%. The predictive value was 89%. Although the specificity of the test was relatively low, the test using these partially purified antigens was found to be useful because of its high sensitivity.