Evaluation of Fish Capillaria spp. Antigen in Diagnosis of Human Intestinal Capillariasis

Abstract

Human intestinal capillariasisis an emerging zoonotic parasitic disease caused by tiny nematode, Capillaria philippinensis. It is now considered an important public health problem in non-endemic areas including Egypt. Death may occur in cases of misdiagnosis and improper treatment. Yet, diagnosis is difficult due to its confused presentation with other etiologies of enteropathy and unavailability of C. philippinensis antigen. Although different types of antigens have been used for serodiagnosis of capillariasis but lack of specificity and cross reactivity is still a challenge. Therefore, in the present study we evaluate Capillaria spp. Adult worm crude antigen extracted from freshwater fish in serodiagnosis of human capillariasis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For this reason, seven species of fresh water fish were examined for the presence of Capillaria spp. natural infection. Capillaria spp. adult and larvae were recovered from the intestine of two species of the examined fishes, bayad (bagrus bajad) and small sized bolty (Oreochromis niloticus).This antigen was able to detect anti-Capillaria antibodies in the sera of infected cases at the same OD value obtained with C. philippinensis adult worm crude antigen However, Fish Capillaria spp. adult worm antigen showed no reactivity with any of the healthy control sera. This assay highlights the usefulness of fish Capillaria antigen in diagnosis of human intestinal capillariasis.

Comparison of the diagnostic performance of microscopic examination, Copro-ELISA, and Copro-PCR in the diagnosis of Capillaria philippinensis infections

“…Therefore, C. philippinensis hyperimmune sera were evaluated using indirect ELISA against C. philippinensis crude worm antigen and against available helminth antigens (crude hydatid fluid antigen, Schistosoma mansoni egg antigen), which showed the specificity of both the rabbit and rat hyperimmune sera. This is supported by previous studies by Abdel-Rahman et al (2019) [19], which revealed insignificant cross-reactions between sera from C. philippinensis-infected patients and both Schistosoma mansoni egg antigen and hydatid cyst antigen. El-Dib et al (2004) [10] observed a low level of cross-reaction between the sera of cases of C. philippinensis and Fasciola gigantica.…”

“…The serum was pooled and stored at 20 ºC. Hyperimmune sera were evaluated using indirect ELISA against the crude C. philippinensis worm antigen and available helminth antigens in our department (crude hydatid fluid (CHF) antigen, Schistosoma mansoni egg antigen) [19].…”

Parasites of Public Health Importance in Nile and Cultured Fish in El-Minya Governorate

“…in the present work was not detected in other species of examined fish (Bolty, Catfish and Carp fish). This result did not agree with previous studies of Abdel-Rahman et al (2019), who detected it in Bolty and with Khalil et al (2016) who detected it in Catfish.…”

“…On contrary, the present study results are considered lower than those reported by Shehzad and Ansari (2018) and Abdel-Rahman et al (2019) who determined the Capillaria infection in all examined Bajad samples (100%). This cleared that Bajad is thought to be the main second intermediate host for Capillaria spp.…”

“…In the current study, infection rate of Capillaria is detected only in Nile fish (Bajad) and not detected in cultured fish. This result agree with Abdel-Rahman et al (2019) who recorded that the Capillaria in nearly all collected Nile fresh water, Bargus Bajad.…”