Immunological tests in asymptomatic intestinal amoebiasis

Abstract

Five immunological tests for amoebiasis were performed in 23 patients with asymptomatic intestinal amoebiasis. Their ages ranged from 2 to 17 yr. They were the offspring of women retained in a Reform Home for vocational training. It was shown that the percentage positives varied from 26 to 78% depending on the tests employed. The tests with the highest sensitivity were the indirect hemagglutination and the complement fixation tests with the percentage positive being 78.3 and 77.3, respectively, followed in declining order by the immunoelectrophoresis test (65.2%), the intradermal test (39.1%) and the latex agglutination test (26%). For the intradermal test, both immediate and delayed reactions were observed with the percentage positives of 39.1 and 17.4 respectively.