[Application of in-house enzyme immunoassay and indirect hemagglutination methods for the serologic diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis].

It is necessary to use methods that are not only fast and easily applicable, but also safe in the diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis (CE) and monitoring the treatment. In the present study, we investigated the presence of specific Echinococcus granulosus antibodies by in-house enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) and indirect hemagglutination (IHA) tests in the sera of 64 patients who were surgically confirmed to have CE, 10 patients with various lung and liver malignancies and 20 patients with Hymenolepis nana infections. Of the 64 CE patients, 52 (81.2%) were found to be positive with IHA and 49 (76.5%) were found to be positive with ELISA (in both of the tests, > or =1/64 titers were accepted as positive), while none of the other patient groups yielded positive results. As a result, the sensitivities of in-house IHA and ELISA methods were determined to be 81.2% and 76.5%, respectively, whereas the specificities were 100% for both of the tests. There was no statistically significant difference between the methods for the detection of E. granulosus antibodies (p>0.05). It can be concluded that, the agreement between the methods could make a considerable contribution in the diagnosis and postoperative follow-up of the CE patients.