[Immunoelectrophoresis and double immunodiffusion in the diagnosis of human cerebral cysticercosis].

This paper describes the immune reactivity of the sera of humans with different probabilities of suffering cerebral cysticercosis as measured in immunoelectrophoresis and double diffusion against antigenic fractions from the wall, the liquid and the scolex of Cysticercus cellulosae. The proportion of positive sera with any antigenic fraction increased with the likelyhood of suffering cerebral cysticercosis, although some variation was found between antigenic fractions. Scolex and wall antigens showed the maximal discriminatory power between sick and healthy individuals: the probability of a false positive being less than 0.05 and that of a false negative ranging between 0.4 and 0.5. With these estimates it is concluded that a positive serum in immunoelectrophoresis or double diffusion against scolex or wall antigens practically establishes the diagnosis of cerebral cysticerocosis, although this event will occur in only half of the patients afflicted by the disease. The ease of execution of these tests and their discriminatory power between healthy and sick humans justify their establishment among diagnostic tools in cerebral cysticercosis.