evaluation of an in-house enzyme linked immuonosorbent assay (elisa) for detection of anti – fasciola gigantica antibodies in sheep

tropical fasciolosis caused by infection with fasciola gigantica is regarded as one of the most important single helminthes infections of ruminants in asia and africa. fasciolosis diagnosis, due to low sensitivity of coprological diagnostic method has been challenging for a long period. to evaluate the usefulness of elisa for diagnosis of anti – fasciola gigantica antibodies in parasitized sheep, crude, as well as excretory-secretory (e/s) antigens were examined with 50 positive and 45 negative serum samples. results were compared with liver inspection in slaughterhouse. the cut off values were determined in 0.469 and 0.516 for crude and e/s antigen respectively. we found 82% of sensitivity, 95.6 of specificity, 95.3% positive predictive value and 83 % negative predictive value using crude antigen. we have also found 92% of sensitivity, 93% specificity, 93.8% positive predictive value and 91.4 % negative predictive value using e/s antigen. we concluded that elisa, specially using e/s antigen, is a good tool for serodiagnosis of fasciola gigantica infection in sheep herds.