Serological diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy: comparison between a manual commercial ELISA assay and the automated VIDAS ® kit

AbstractKnowledge of the toxoplasmosis serological status in pregnant women is important to allow adequate management for the prevention of congenital toxoplasmosis of those who are not immunized. Serological screening is generally carried out using commercial kits to determine the presence or absence of immunoglobulins M or G in the maternal blood. Robust results are therefore needed. We evaluated the performances of a commercial ELISA assay composed of several recombinant parasite antigens and of a commercial assay using parasite lysate to determine the serological status againstToxoplasma gondii of African pregnant women. A recruitment of 106 pregnant women during their third trimester of pregnancy was carried out in Benin. Serologies were performed withrecomWellToxoplasma IgM and IgG kits. Subsequently, the serological assays were carried out by an automaton method with the VIDAS® TOXO IgM and IgG  II kits. Here we comparedrecomWellToxoplasma to VIDAS® TOXO results. Reproducibility tests of therecomWell kits were assessed following the discrepancies observed in the results. Of 106 plasmas tested, 47 showed anti-T. gondii IgG (44.3%), including 5 with IgM and high IgG avidity (4.7%). Of the two techniques, VIDAS® TOXO was more robust and specific for IgG while therecomWellToxoplasma gave more false positive results. The combination of several techniques for the determination of serological toxoplasmosis status remains relevant. Methods using native proteins are closer...
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research