Objective THE DIAGNOSIS OF SCHISTOSOME INFECTIONS IS STILL MAINLY BASED ON THE DETECTION OF THE PARASITEEGGS IN FAECES OR URINE. HOWEVER, THE STRONG FLUCTUATION OF EGG EXCRETION NECESSITATES RPEATED EXAMINATIONS TO RELIABLY DETERMINE THE INTENSITY OF THE INFECTION, WHILE LIGHT INFECTIONS ARE EASILY MISSED. FOR QUANTITATIVE DIAGNOSIS OF ACTIVE SCHISTOSOME INFECTIONS, DETECTION OF SPECIFIC HOST ANTIBODIES IS NO REALISTIC ALTERNATIVE WHEREAS DETECTION OF ANTIGENS EXCRETED BY THE PARASITE IS A PROMISING APPROACH. DURING THE STD-2 FUNDED COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT ON CIRCULATING SCHISTOSOME ANTIGENS IT WAS STUDIED WHETHER ANTIGENS DERIVED FROM THE SCHISTOSOME GUT (CCA, CCA) COULD BE ASSAYED AS MARKERS FOR ACTIVE INFECTION ,INTENSITY OF INFECTION AND FOLLOW-UP OF CHEMOTHERAPY. IN THE FIRST PHASE OF THAT RESEARCH PROJECT, AN ELISA AND A TR-IFMA FOR CAA WERE DEVELOPED, DURING THE SECOND PHASE AN ELISA FOR CCA A DOTIMMUNOBINDING ASSAY FOR CCA IS NOW BEING EVALUATED. IN A NUMBER OF PILOT STUDIES (S MANSONI IMMUNDOBID IMMUNOBINDING S JAPANICUM S INTERCALATUM IT WAS SHOWN THAT CIRCULATING ANTIGEN DETECTION CAN BE USED TO QUANTITATE ACTIVE INFECTION AND TO MONITOR CHEMOTHERAPY. IN ADDITION, IT WAS SHOWN THAT DETECTION OF CCA IN URINE, ALLOWING NON INVASIVE SAMPLING, IS A PROMISING TECHNIQUE. THE PRESENT PROPOSAL IS BQSED ON THE RESULTS REAGENTS AND EXPERTISE GENERATED DURING THE FIRST NETWORK STUDY AND HAS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES. IT HAS BEEN FOUND THAT DETECTION OF MORE THAN ONE ANTIGEN WILL PROVIDE ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTIC PARAMETERS MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY PANELS WILL THEREFORE BE SCREENED FOR DIAGNOSTIC ANTIBODIES WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON JAPONICUM. TO ACHIEVE OPTIMAL DETECTION LEVELS AND TO ALLOW TESTING OF SMALL SAMPLES HIGHLY SENTITIVE ASSAYS (ELISA TRIFMA) ARE NEEDED ALTERNATIVE ELISA PROCEDURES WILL BE INVESTIGATED AND A TRIFMA FOR CCA WILL BE DEVELOPED A FIELD APPLICABLE DIP STICK ASSYA OR DOT IMMUNOBINDING ASSAY WILL DEVELOP ADDITIONAL AND MORE DETAILED STUDIES ON ANTIGEN LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS IN SERUM AND URINE ON ANTIGEN LEVELS FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY ON CORRELATION BETWEEN ANTIGEN LEVELS ABD EGG OUTPUT "FALSE POSITIVES AND FALSE NEGATIVES" AND ON ANTIGEN LEVELS AND MORBIDITY WILL BE UNDERTAKEN. A MAJOR ASPECT OF THE PROPOSALIS CONSTUTUED BY TRAINING AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO COLLABORATING INSTITUTES IN ENDEMIC AREAS BY THE APPLICATION OF THE ASSAUYS IN SEROEPIDEM IOLOGICAL STUDIES. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT BY AN EFFECTIVE USE OF REAGENTS Programme(s) FP3-STD 3 - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the life sciences and technologies for developing countries, 1990-1994 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator LEIDEN UNIVERSITY Address 62,wassenaarseweg 62 2300 RC Leiden Netherlands See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (7) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Cooperacio Tecnica Espanola Bata Equatorial Guinea EU contribution € 0,00 Address Bata See on map Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Brazil EU contribution € 0,00 Address 1715,avenida augusto de lima 30190 Belo horizonte See on map Hôpital 'Dr A.Schweitzer' Lambarene Gabon EU contribution € 0,00 Address 20 Lambarene See on map Landesinstitut für Tropenmedizin Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Königin elisabeth straße 32 14059 Berlin See on map Medical Research Station Kumba Cameroon EU contribution € 0,00 Address Kumba See on map Research Institute for Tropical Medicine Philippines EU contribution € 0,00 Address Alabang, muntinlupa Metro manila See on map Shanghai Second Medical University China EU contribution € 0,00 Address 280,south chongging road 200025 Shanghai See on map