Immunobiological diagnosis of tropical ocular diseases: Toxocara, Pythium insidiosum, Pseudomonas (Burkholderia) pseudomallei, Mycobacterium chelonei and Toxoplasma gondii.

Of the sera obtained from 18 patients with ocular diseases comprising ocular larva migrans (OLM), Toxoplasma gondii, Mycobacterium chelonei, Pythium insidiosum bacteria and tumour, 3 sera were positive for Toxocara antibody at the titre over 1/1600 ELISA. All 3 of these sera came from males with unilateral grayish fundi. We demonstrated the value of the direct immunofluorescent assay (DIFA) on vitreous specimens from 7 cases of Toxoplasma retinitis. One vitreous specimen under electronmicroscopic examination revealed bradyzoites of T. gondii. In addition, a few cases of keratoconjunctivitis/ corneal ulcer with endophthalmitis, due to P. insidiosum, Ps. pseudomallei and Mycobacterium chelonei, were also diagnosed.