This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gross, U. Articles by Darde, M. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gross, U. Articles by Darde, M. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, May 1997, 247-251, Vol 4, No. 3
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Value of detecting immunoglobulin E antibodies for the serological diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection

U Gross, O Keksel and ML Darde
Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Wurzburg, Germany. ugross@hygiene.uni-wuerzburg.de

The presence of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies was determined by using the immunosorbent-agglutination assay (ISAGA) with 611 serum samples from patients with different clinical conditions to evaluate its value for the serodiagnosis of acute Toxoplasma gondii infection. By analyzing 43 consecutively drawn serum samples from 10 pregnant women who seroconverted, we could show that specific IgE antibodies seem to appear early after infection and are usually present for less than 3 to 5 months. Therefore, we assumed that IgE antibodies seem to be detectable only during the acute or reactivated stage of infection. According to our studies, the IgE ISAGA has an overall sensitivity of only 79.5%, but a specificity of 98.0%, with positive and negative predictive values of 95.5 and 89.8%, respectively. Detection of IgE antibodies in immunosuppressed patients with reactivation of latent T. gondii infection correlates with disease activity. Despite these encouraging results, one must note that IgE antibodies were not detectable in 4 of 14 patients with very recent infection proven by seroconversion. Therefore, detection of IgE antibodies seems to correlate with early acute or reactivated toxoplasmosis, whereas negative IgE results do not exclude the possibility of the acute stage of toxoplasmosis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Foudrinier, F., Villena, I., Jaussaud, R., Aubert, D., Chemla, C., Martinot, F., Pinon, J. M. (2003). Clinical Value of Specific Immunoglobulin E Detection by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay in Cases of Acquired and Congenital Toxoplasmosis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 1681-1686 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Li, S., Galvan, G., Araujo, F. G., Suzuki, Y., Remington, J. S., Parmley, S. (2000). Serodiagnosis of Recently Acquired Toxoplasma gondii Infection Using an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay with a Combination of Recombinant Antigens. CVI 7: 781-787 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Villena, I., Aubert, D., Brodard, V., Quereux, C., Leroux, B., Dupouy, D., Remy, G., Foudrinier, F., Chemla, C., Gomez-Marin, J. E., Pinon, J. M. (1999). Detection of Specific Immunoglobulin E during Maternal, Fetal, and Congenital Toxoplasmosis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 3487-3490 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Martin, V., Arcavi, M., Santillan, G., Amendoeira, M. R. R., De Souza Neves, E., Griemberg, G., Guarnera, E., Garberi, J. C., Angel, S. O. (1998). Detection of Human Toxoplasma-Specific Immunoglobulins A, M, and G with a Recombinant Toxoplasma gondii Rop2 Protein. CVI 5: 627-631 [Abstract] [Full Text]