Evaluation of an immunoenzymatic assay detecting specific anti-Toxocara immunoglobulin E for diagnosis and posttreatment follow-up of human toxocariasis.

In order to complete the immunodiagnosis of human toxocaral disease, an immunoenzymatic assay with excretory-secretory antigens from Toxocara canis larvae was developed for the detection of specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]). The specificity of the assay was evaluated in patients presenting with various allergic or helminthic diseases. The sensitivity was assessed in patients exhibiting clinical and biological symptoms indicative of toxocariasis, serodiagnosis of which was made by the Western blot (WB; immunoblot) procedure that used the same antigen as that used in the sIgE ELISA but that detected specific IgG.

[Double blind study of the efficacy of mebendazole in minor forms of human toxocariasis].

The authors discuss the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised study on the efficacy of mebendazole versus placebo in the treatment of human toxocariasis in 45 and 43 patients respectively, who exhibited evocative clinical and biological symptoms and a seropositivity. Scores were used to quantify clinical (20 parameters) and biological (blood count, sedimentation rate, determination of total and anti-Toxocara IgE, serodiagnosis by immunoelectrophoresis) abnormalities. The reassessment were done 1 month after the end of treatment.

Application of the western blotting procedure for the immunodiagnosis of human toxocariasis.

To improve the immunodiagnosis of human toxocaral disease, a sensitive and specific assay using the Western blotting procedure (WB) with excretory-secretory antigens from Toxocara canis larvae (TES) was developed and compared with the standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method (TES-ELISA) using the same antigens. We tested groups of sera from laboratory animals or patients presenting with toxocariasis or other helminthic diseases and a group of sera from people dwelling in an area endemic for toxocariasis who exhibited hypereosinophilia. Statistically, the WB assay correlated well with TES-ELISA, but the former was more specific for banding patterns corresponding to low-molecular-weight fractions, thus avoiding problems of cross-reactivity with sera infected with other helminthic diseases.

Phagocytosis in myeloproliferative disorders.

The phagocytic function was investigated by means of four tests (capillary tube random migration, phagocytosis of yeast particles, quantitative nitroblue tetrazolium dye reduction and whole-blood bactericidal activity for Staphylococcus aureus) in 57 patients who had myeloproliferative disorders: 24 had chronic granulocytic leukemia, 22 had polycythemia vera, six had myelofibrosis, and five had essential thrombocythemia. This study confirms the previously reported functional anomalies of phagocytosis in all the myeloproliferative disorders and shows that, despite these anomalies, the increased number of phagocytes allows an efficient whole-blood bactericidal activity, essential for the nonspecific host defence mechanisms.

Chronic granulomatous disease with leukocytic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in a 28-month-old girl.

A 28-month-old girl, whose parents are first cousins, was hospitalized following a series of severe infections. Results of functional granulocytic tests permitted the diagnosis of chronic granulomatous disease (lack of nitroblue tetrazolium dye reduction, impaired bactericidal activity for Staphylococcus aureus but normal activity for Streptococcus foecalis). Random migration was also impaired, and leukocytic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity was decreased (37% of the normal mean).