Seroepidemiological Study of Hydatid Cyst Using AgB by ELISA in Patients Admitted to Central Laboratory of Baqiyatallah Hospital

One of the most important parasitic diseases in human is cystic echinococcosis (CE) which is caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus. The disease is a health problem in the Middle East countries such as Iran. The aim of this study was seroepidemiological evaluation of human CE using antigen B by ELISA technique in patients referred to Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran. A total of 909 serum samples were randomly prepared in the central laboratory. Antigen B was extracted from sheep hydatid cyst fluid (HCF). All serum samples were evaluated by indirect ELISA and the suspected cases were rechecked. Demographic characteristics were collected by a questionnaire and cut-off was calculated as X±2SD. In the present study, 0.8% of the collected samples were seropositive by ELISA technique. Of the 909 participants, 498 (with 1% positive response) and 411 (with 0.49% positive response) were female and male, respectively. The majority of the cases were the employee and retired military personnel (with 1.05% positive response). The most frequent age ranges were 50-59 and 70-79 with 28.57% positive response in each and in participants with academic education (85.72%). There was no statistically significant association between hydatid cyst and variables evaluated in this study. Our results showed a low seroprevalence of human CE. It may be related to the lifestyle of people following the improvement in public health specially in urban communities.