PASSIVE HAEMAGGLUTINATION TEST FOR HUMAN NEUROCYSTICERCOSIS IMMUNODIAGNOSIS. II — COMPARISON OF TWO STANDARDIZED PROCEDURES FOR THE PASSIVE HAEMAGGLUTINATION REAGENT IN THE DETECTION OF ANTI-Cysticercus cellulosae ANTIBODIES IN CEREBROSPINAL FLUIDS

A c o m p a r i s o n of two dif ferent s t a n d a r d i z e d reagent p r o c e d u r e s for the p a s s i v e h a e m a g g l u t i n a t i o n test ( P H A ) in the d e t e c t i o n of s p e c i f i c a n t i b o d y to C y s t i c e r c u s c e l l u l o s a e in c e r e b r o s p i n a l f luid ( C S F ) was carr ied out. T h e formaldehydet rea ted g r o u p O R h h u m a n red b lood ce l ls ( H u R B C ) and g lu tara ldehydet rea ted s h e e p red b lood ce l ls ( S R B C ) were the s u p p l i e s for the reagents p r e p a r a t i o n and, in the tests , they were d e s i g n a t e d as P H A 1 and P H A 2 , r e s p e c t i v e l y . F o r b o t h r e a g e n t s the ce l ls were coated w i t h the c y s t i c e r c i total sa l ine e x t r a c t ( T S ) ant igen . P H A 1 and P H A 2 were assessed i n a total of 204 C S F f rom pa t i en ts w i t h n e u r o c y s t i c e r c o s i s , f rom non-re la ted in fec t ions and f rom hea l thy i n d i v i d u a l s . T h e p o s i t i v i t y and spec i f ic i ty i n d i c e s obta ined were r e s p e c t i v e l y 81.7% and 94.4% for P H A 1 and for P H A 2 , 88.7% and 96.6%. S i n c e n o s ign i f i can t d i f ferences were observed be tween the resu l ts p r o v i d e d b y two reagents , at level of s i g n i f i c a n c e of 0.05, e i ther p r o c e s s e s of cel l s e n s i t i z a t i o n c a n a l te rnat ive ly be used a c c o r d i n g to the own labora tory c o n v e n i e n c e .