Blinded multi-laboratory evaluation of an in-house dot-blot ELISA kit for diagnosis of human parastrongyliasis.

An in-house membrane dot-blot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, for the detection of specific antibody to a 31 kDa protein of Parastrongylus cantonensis was evaluated in a blinded multi-laboratory study. The kit was provided to technologists, who were trained in its use, from nine regional laboratories of Thailand. With an identical set of 20 coded serum samples and reference positive and negative controls, the kit was found to have a diagnostic sensitivity of 100% and a diagnostic specificity of 100% in all the laboratories.