Background: ELISA test is commonly used for diagnosis of parasite infection. This experiment was performed for detecting positive sera against Clonorchis sinensis, Paragonimus westermani, cysticercus, sparganum, Aisakis larvae, Toxoplasma gondii and Trichomonas vaginalis in patient’s sera with ELISA and Western blot analysis.

Methods: Two hundred sera were collected from clinical laboratory of Hanyang University Hospital(Seoul, Kuri). Antigens of parasites were prepared from rabbit (C. sinensis), dog (P. westermani), hog (cysticercus, from Yonsei University), patient (sparganum), mackerel (Anisakis larvae), mouse (T. gondii), cultivation in Trypticase-Yeast extract-Maltose medium (T. vaginalis). ELISA and Western blot was conducted with several parasite antigens and patient’s sera.

Results: Positive antibody titers of P. westermani, Anisakis, C. sinensis were observed 12.7%, 11.0%, and 7.0% of patient’s sera, respectively. Nineteen sera among 200 patients showed cross reactions with other parasites. On Western blot, there were several antigenic bands with patient’s sera, i.e., 3/5 sera of C. sinensis, 2/2 sera of P. westermani, 1/4 sera of sparganum, and 0/4 sera of cysticercus.

Coclusions: ELISA is a convenient method for detecting parasite infections. But purification of antigens is necessary and Western blot analysis may reduce the false positive reactions of infection. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2002;5(1):52-58)