A comparative efficacy of plate ELISA and dot ELISA to detect antiamoebic antibodies in clinical patients.

The dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot ELISA) has been developed and compared with plate ELISA for detecting antiamoebic antibodies in serum samples from amoebic patients and healthy controls. Both dot and plate ELISA detected antiamoebic antibodies in all 17 confirmed amoebic liver abscess cases and 15 (68%) of 22 suspected amoebic liver abscess cases while none of 21 non-amoebic hepatic disorders, 25 non-amoebic intestinal disorders and 28 apparently healthy subjects had antiamoebic antibodies as assessed by either of the tests. All the 15 suspected amoebic liver abscess patients who had antiamoebic antibodies responded favourably to antiamoebic treatment. As the dot ELISA is simpler, rapid, inexpensive, equally sensitive and specific as compared to plate ELISA, its use in detecting antiamoebic antibodies is recommended especially under field conditions.