Evaluation of counterimmunoelectrophoresis method for detection of somatic circulating antigen of Fasciola gigantica in bovine sera

Diagnosis of fasciolosis is based on antibody or antigen detection in serum. Antigen detection provides early diagnosis of infection. With counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) antibody or antigen existence can be detected in less than 3 hours. This study assessed this test for diagnosis of Fasciola gigantica antigen in cattle. For this purpose Fasciola gigantica were collected from liver of infected slaughtered cattle. Somatic antigen was prepeared from collected parasites and was injected into 2 healthy rabbits for production of hyperimmuniune sera. For evalution of CIEP totally 60 negative and 100 positive sera were collected from slaughtered cattle. All sera were evaluated for diagnosis of fasciollosis by CIEP for detection of circulating antigen of Fasciola gigantica. 92 from 100 infected cattle sera were positive and 60 uninfected cattle sera were negative in CIEP. Sensitivity and specifity of CIEP for detection of Fasciola gigantica antigen were 100% and 92% respectively. It is concluded that CIEP has acceptable sensitivity and specifity for rapid and early diagnosis of Fasciola gigantica.