Schistosoma mansoni: A diagnostic approach to detect acute schistosomiasis infection in a murine model by PCR

• DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2006.02.012
• Publication Date: 2006-03-30T12:19:59Z
• Authors: Nidia Sandoval; Mar Siles-Lucas; Julio Lopez Aban; José Luis Pérez-A...; Teresa Gárate; Antonio Muro
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Polymerase-Chain-Reaction; Time Factors; Antibodies, Helminth; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Urine; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sensitivity and Specificity; Feces; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Animals; Parasite Egg Count; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Dna; Schistosoma mansoni; DNA, Helminth; Schistosomiasis mansoni; 3. Good health; Disease Models, Animal; Antigen; Immunoglobulin G; Acute Disease; Female

Schistosomiasis represents an increasing problem in non-endemic areas, due to the growing number of immigrants and to tourists contracting this disease in "off-the-beaten-track" tourism. Acute schistosomiasis is not diagnosed early due to the lack of diagnostic tools that are sufficiently sensitive enough to detect the parasite during the first weeks of infection. We have developed a diagnostic approach based on the detection of parasite DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in urine, comparing the performance of this new approach with the two currently used schistosomiasis diagnostic tools (Kato-Katz and ELISA) and the PCR in stool samples. This comparison was done in a Schistosoma mansoni murine experimental model, which permits follow up of the parasite from the acute to the chronic stage of infection. Our results suggest that this new PCR-based approach could be useful for the detection of acute schistosomiasis in easy-to-handle clinical samples such the urine.