Antibody responses in murine schistosomiasis and fascioliasis.

Antibody responses in mice with a primary infection of either Schistosoma mansoni or Fasciola hepatica were studied, using antigen preparations from both species. S. mansoni adult worm extracts (Ouchterlony, indrect hemagglutination) detected schistosomiasis in mice by 5-6 weeks, but did not detect fascioliasis through 12 weeks of infection. S. mansoni soluble egg antigen (Ouchterlony, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay--ELISA) reacted with the sera of mice infected with S. mansoni by 6-7 weeks of infection; only ELISA reacted with the sera of mice infected with F. hepatica (by 3 weeks of infection). The circumoval precipitin test was specific only for mice infected with S. mansoni, being positive by the 9th week of infection. F. hepatica adult worm extract precipitated (Ouchterlony) the sera of mice with schistosomiasis (7 weeks) and fascioliasis (2 weeks).