Sensitivity and Specificity of ELISA Using Excretory/Secretory of Fasciola Gigantica For Detection Fasciolosis In Cattles

Abstract

Fasciolosis is one of the diseases caused by Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica which attacks livestock especially ruminants. This disease can be acute and chronic and causes a big loss to farmers due to a decrease in cattle’s weight gain as well as death. Generally, the disease could be determined by egg examination on faeces. However, this method poses some drawbacks, such as the excretion of eggs that is irregular, and the number of eggs excreted in faeces is very low, thus affecting the result of diagnosis. Another drawback is inability of eggs examination method to detect infection on pre-paten period (8-10 weeks post infection) and it’s low sensitivity due to eggs production that is relatively limited on pre-paten period. Alternatively, Fasciolosis could be detected using serologic tests such as ELISA test. This study aimed to determine sensitivity and spesificity of ELISA in detecting Fasciolosis on cattles using Excretory Secretory (ES) component of F.gigantica. The ELISA results showed that all sera samples tested (n = 16) using 3 different antigens gave a sensitivity of 100% while its specificity could not be determined as all sera samples tested showing positive OD 405nm value (above cut off value) though eggs examinations on faeces gave a negative result.