The utility of lactoferrin in differentiating parasitic from bacterial infections

Lactoferrin is an iron binding glycoprotein found in the 2ry granules of PMN. In order to determine the usefulness of such marker for neutrophilic activity in differentiating cases suffering from amoebic and bacillary dysentery, Schistosoma and bacterial UTI infections, we examined stool and urine specimens using anti-lactoferrin antibodies (lactoferrin latex agglutination test: LFLA), compared with different standard gold techniques. Our results demonstrated that cases with either shigllosis or UTI revealed a high lactoferrin titer which was positively correllated with the number of PMN. In addition cases with Entamoeba histolytica or S. haematobium were characterized by relatively lower inflammatory process as expressed by mild lactoferrin titer which was also correlated with the PMN count. In addition, the findings of the present work indicated that LFLA was sensitive and specific when used alone and its sensitivity was augmented after coupling with other simple indirect methods of diagnosis. In conclusion, results described the reliability of using LFLA as a simple, rapid, sensitive method in differentiating, certain parasitic from bacterial diseases.