Background: Serologic tests for specific antibody nowadays are widely employed for the diagnosis of parasitic diseases. Recently, an increasing numbers of kits have adopted enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of parasitic antibodies. In this study, we evaluated two ELISA reagents for the diagnosis of parasitic diseases.
Methods: A total of 553 serum and 156 CSF samples were assayed using an in-house micro-ELISA and Genediaⓡ Ab ELISA (Green cross PBM, Korea) for Cysticercus, Paragonimus westermani, Clonorchis sinensis, and Sparganum. We reviewed the medical records of all patients. The results from Genediaⓡ Ab ELISA kit were compared with those from the inhouse micro-ELISA method.
Results: The overall concordance rate between the two ELISA tests was 95.5%. When compared with the clinical information, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the in-house micro-ELISA were 100%, 99.0∼99.6%, 82.4∼96.4%, and 100%, and the respective figures for Genediaⓡ Ab ELISA kit were 92.9~100%, 88.0∼97.3%, 41.7∼50%, and 99.9~100% with kappa agreement of 0.53-0.63. Comparison of two ELISA methods showed a significant difference (P＜0.05). Retesting of 85 discordant samples showed that the concordance rate of the in-house ELISA was 97.7% and that of Genediaⓡ Ab ELISA was 28.2%.
Conclusion: Genediaⓡ Ab ELISA kit showed an intermediate level of kappa agreement compared with the in-house ELISA. Further studies are necessary to improve the concordance rate of the two methods, and a careful interpretation of these results is required for a precise diagnosis. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2008;11:56-62)
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