Diagnostics of a Zoonotic Parasitic Disease: Total Serum Immunoglobulin E in Patients with Toxocariasis and Clinically Healthy Persons in Bulgaria.

Toxocariasis is a zoonotic parasitic disease in humans caused by migration in the human body of infective larvae of canine and (or) feline nematodes of the genus Toxocara Stiles, 1905 (Ascaridida: Toxocaridae). The aim of the present study is to establish the levels of total serum IgE in patients with toxocariasis in Bulgaria, to compare them with the levels in clinically healthy individuals and to evaluate their significance for diagnosis of toxocariasis. The levels of total IgE were examined in sera samples from 130 patients with serological and clinical signs of toxocariasis. Of them, 120 were with visceral form of the disease and 10 with ocular larva migrans. The values of IgE in this group ranged from 4 IU/ml to 957.95 IU/ml. The geometric mean of total serum IgE was 153.7 ± 39.8. Serum samples from a control group of 50 clinically healthy blood donors were also tested and their serum IgE levels ranged from 2 IU/ml to 230 IU/ml (geometric mean of 49.40 ± 15.1 IU/ml). Our study is the first of its kind from Bulgaria and our results display a geometric mean of IgE in patients with toxocariasis (153.7 IU/ml) of about 3 times higher than the one in clinically healthy individuals (49.4 IU/ml). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]