Descriptive Comparison of ELISAs for the Detection of Toxoplasmagondii Antibodies in Animals: A Systematic Review.

K L D Tharaka D Liyanage,Jasmin Hufschmid,Anke Wiethoelter,Abdul Jabbar

doi:10.3390/pathogens10050605

K L D Tharaka D Liyanage, Jasmin Hufschmid + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10050605

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Journal: Pathogens	Publication Date: May 15, 2021
Citations: 19	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Melbourne

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is the zoonotic parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis in warm-blooded vertebrates. This systematic review compares and evaluates the available knowledge on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), their components, and performance in detecting T. gondii antibodies in animals. Four databases were searched for published scientific studies on T. gondii and ELISA, and 57 articles were included. Overall, indirect (95%) and in-house (67%) ELISAs were the most used types of test among the studies examined, but the ‘ID Screen® Toxoplasmosis Indirect Multi-species’ was common among commercially available tests. Varying diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) and Kappa agreements were observed depending on the type of sample (serum, meat juice, milk), antigen (native, recombinant, chimeric) and antibody-binding reagents used. Combinations of recombinant and chimeric antigens resulted in better performance than native or single recombinant antigens. Protein A/G appeared to be useful in detecting IgG antibodies in a wide range of animal species due to its non-species-specific binding. One study reported cross-reactivity, with Hammondia hammondi and Eimeria spp. This is the first systematic review to descriptively compare ELISAs for the detection of T. gondii antibodies across different animal species.

Highlights

Toxoplasma gondii (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) is an intracellular parasite that can infect endothermic animal species, including mammals and birds, with a worldwide distribution [1,2]
Out of 57 studies describing the evaluation of diagnostic performance of different enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the detection of T. gondii antibodies, the majority originated from Europe (n = 21), followed by Asia (n = 16), South America (n = 9), North America (n = 6), Africa (n = 3) and Australia (n = 2) (Figure 2)
This review evaluated 57 articles describing the performance of different ELISAs in detecting T. gondii antibodies in 20 different animal species

Summary

Introduction

Toxoplasma gondii (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) is an intracellular parasite that can infect endothermic animal species, including mammals and birds, with a worldwide distribution [1,2]. Infection with T. gondii affects nearly one-quarter of the human population, making it an important zoonotic problem globally [3]. Toxoplasmosis remains asymptomatic and self-limiting [4,5]; the infection can lead to significant morbidity and even mortality [6,7]. Infection with T. gondii can cause serious reproductive complications, including abortion, congenital deformity, stillbirth and foetal mummification [7,8,9], leading to significant economic losses [6,7]. A wide range of clinical signs, including sudden death, encephalitis, lymphadenopathy, respiratory distress, interstitial pneumonia, and neurological signs have been reported in wild animals [12,13,14,15]

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