[Parasitic circulating antigens in hosts with Filaria bancrofti]

The ELISA and Dot-ELISA with rabbit anti-Setaria labial-papillosa antibody were applied to determine circulating antigens of Filaria bancrofti. The total positive rate was 96% (24/25) in the sera of patients with microfilaremia from endemic areas, Anhui province. The total positive rate of urines was 60% (15/25) in the same patients. The positive rates of the milks were both 100% (4/4) in the same patients. The conformity rate was 100% and 75% respectively for positive sera and urines (15 cases), milks (4). Negative reactions were observed in the sera, urines and milks of all the 43 healthy people from non-endemic areas in Jiangsu province. Negative reactions were observed in the urines of all the 11 non-filaria cases harbouring intestinal nematodes. The positive rate detected with ELISA was 36% (4/11) in the patient sera that were negative when they were detected by Dot-ELISA. Negative reactions were detected with Dot-ELISA in the sera of all the 10 non-filaria patients infected with Paragonimus westermani. The results showed that circulating antigens of Filaria bancrofti exist not only in the serum but also in the urine and the milk.