Evaluation of metacestode of Taenia solium antigens for detection of anti-cysticercal IgG among patients with epilepsy in three districts of Northern Uganda

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis causes serious public health and socioeconomic problems in developing countries including Uganda. The aim of the study was to evaluate the metacestodes of Taenia solium (T. solium) antigens for detection of anticysticercal Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies among patients with epilepsy in three districts of Northern Uganda. Three hundred (300) random samples were screened for anticysticercal IgG using indirect antibody Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Samples positive for anticysticercal IgG were confirmed using western blot. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA method was 90 and 95.4% with positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 77.8 and 98.4% respectively.. The kappa value at 95% CI was 0.668 (0.545-0.791). The strength of agreement between ELISA assays and immunoblot was good. The finding indicates the ELISA based method using locally derived antigens can be used to screen most patients with epilepsy for exposure to T. solium antigens and the method can be employed in resource limited settings in most developing countries. Key words: Evaluation, metacestode, Taenia solium antigen, ELISA, Neurocysticercosis, Northern Uganda