[An immunoenzyme test in the diagnosis of opisthorchiasis and in seroepidemiological research].

An indirect method for the determination of antibodies to Opisthorchis antigens has been used in the elaboration of enzyme immunoassay for opisthorchiasis diagnosis. A visual method for the assessment of the results has been suggested. Its diagnostic efficacy has been determined. With the study of 1722 sera of the control subjects, the test specificity was 97.5%. Test sensitivity in the acute stage of the disease (40 patients) was about 100%, in the chronic stage (435 patients) it depended on oocyst production by the parasite. With less than 10 oocysts per I g feces, test sensitivity did not exceed 34.3%, with more than 1000 oocysts per I g feces it reached 94.4%. Mass population screenings, using the test in question, in 2 opisthorchiasis foci with different levels of endemia have shown that their results correspond to the data of copro-ovoscopy. The use of the test is most promising for the diagnosis of early phase of opisthorchiasis and the assessment of epidemiological situation in the foci.