Abstract
For epidemiological studies of infectious diseases, pathogen-specific antibody levels in an area give us essential and appropriate information. The antibodies against pathogens are usually detected in blood, the drawing of which inconveniences people. Collection of blood increases the risk of accidental infections through blood, and it is difficult to obtain the participation of the target populations, especially the younger generation. On the other hand, urine samples, which contain a high enough level of antibodies for ELISA, can be harmlessly and easily collected and therefore have been used for epidemiological studies for diseases. The antibody examination of urine has been used for the epidemiology of parasitic diseases with a high sensitivity and specificity of serum samples. In this paper, we reviewed antibody assays with urine for seven parasitic diseases that urine diagnostic methods have reported in the past, and these are important infections included in NTDs, caused, for example, by Leishmania donovani, Wuchereria bancrofti, Schistosoma japonicum, Paragonimus westermani, Echinococcus granulosus, Echinococcus multilocularis, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Opisthorchis viverrini. The easy and safe urine surveillance system might be an admirable tool for future epidemiological studies for infectious diseases.
Highlights
When the symptoms caused by the infection are mild and the rate of serious illness is low, or when the infection is no longer a threat to residents due to the progress of infection control programs, residents are not interested in the infection, and it is difficult to obtain their cooperation in epidemiological studies using painful blood collection
A number of positive samples in each class and subclass of antibodies were compared in a urine ELISA; IgG was significantly higher than that of IgM, IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3, and there was no significant difference between IgG and IgG4
Urine ELISA targeted toward school children in an endemic area in Sri Lanka showed a significant decrease in antibody levels and a positive rate as the mass drug administration (MDA) program progressed
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Urine ELISA methods have been reported to detect specific antibodies against viruses and bacteria such as Helicobacter pylori [2,3,5], rubella virus (RV) [6], dengue virus [7], hepatitis C virus (HCV) [8], and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) [9] and against parasites such as Leishmania donovani [10], Wuchereria bancrofti [4], Schistosoma japonicum [11], Paragonimus westermani [12], Echinococcus granulosus [13], Echinococcus multilocularis [14], Strongyloides stercoralis [15], and Opisthorchis viverrini [16]. The significance and future prospects of practical urinary antibody testing, mainly on the parasite-specific antibody detection method using urine ELISA, are described
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