Evaluation of human and mosquito based diagnostic tools for defining endpoints for elimination of Anopheles transmitted lymphatic filariasis in Ghana.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The decision to stop mass drug administration (MDA) and monitor recrudescence has to be made when endpoints for elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) have been achieved. Highly sensitive and specific diagnostic tools are required to do this. The main objective of this study was to determine most effective diagnostic tools for assessing interruption of LF transmission.

METHODS:

The presence of filarial infection in blood and mosquito samples was determined using five diagnostic tools: Brugia malayi-14 (BM14) antibody detection ELISA, Onchocerca gibsoni antigen (Og4C3) based ELISA, PCR, immunochromatography (ICT) card test and blood smear. The study was carried out in two communities in the Central Region of Ghana.

RESULTS:

OG4C3 was found to be the most sensitive test but ICT, the second most sensitive, was the most field applicable. PCR was found to be the most specific. Thirteen out of 30 pools of anopheles mosquitoes tested positive for the DNA of Wuchereria bancrofti.

CONCLUSIONS:

Very low antigen prevalence in primary school children indicates that MDA is working, so children born since the intervention was put in place are not getting infected. Inclusion of xenomonitoring in monitoring the effectiveness of MDA will give a better indication as to when transmission has been interrupted especially in areas where microfilaria prevalence is lower than 1%.

• Authors: Irene Offei Owusu, Dziedzom K de Souza, Francis Anto, Michael D Wilson, Daniel A Boakye, Moses J Bockarie, John O Gyapong
• Journal: Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg) Vol. 109 Issue 10 Pg. 628-35 (Oct 2015) ISSN: 1878-3503 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 26385935 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

Chemical References

• Antigens, Helminth

Topics

• Animals
• Anopheles (parasitology)
• Antigens, Helminth
• Chromatography, Affinity
• Elephantiasis, Filarial (diagnosis, epidemiology, transmission)
• Endpoint Determination
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
• Ghana (epidemiology)
• Humans
• Microfilariae
• Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Predictive Value of Tests
• Prevalence
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Wuchereria bancrofti