Browsing by Author "Osei-Agyemang, Abigail Naana"

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    Profiling of Anti-Schistosoma Antibodies Pre and post Praziquantel treatment in persons living in a Schistosomiasis endemic area in Ghana
    (July 2016) Osei-Agyemang, Abigail Naana
    Schistosomiasis, a water borne parasitic disease where 240 million people in 78 countries are affected, majority occurring in Africa. Sensitive diagnostic tools for detection of infections, pre and post treatment is the foundation of the success of mass drug administration. Detection of antibodies in the serum gives knowledge on therapeutic responses and persistence of infection. ELISA was used to measure the sero-prevalence of anti- Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium IgM, IgG and IgE to soluble egg antigen (SEA) and adult worm antigen (AWA) among participants. Blood samples were collected from participants aged between 6 and 76 years 2 weeks before treatment and 8 weeks after treatment with praziquantel. At pre-treatment, the sero-prevalence of anti-Schistosoma mansoni IgM to SEA and IgE to AWA was higher in participants. At 8 weeks post-praziquantel treatment, there was no statistically significant decrease in sero-prevalence of participants having IgM against SEA. Participants having IgE against SEA was reduced significantly and IgG increase was statistically significant. A significant decrease was observed in participants having IgM and IgG against AWA whiles IgE increase was not statistically significant. For Schistosoma haematobium at pre-treatment, participants had a higher sero-prevalence of IgE against SEA and IgG against AWA. At post treatment, there was a statistically significant increase of participants having IgM and IgG and a reduction of IgE against SEA. IgE against AWA tend to increase whiles IgG reduced and IgM sero-prevalence remained the same. Results from this study showed history of individuals that have recent or past infections and an individuals immune status before an infection and after chemotherapy. Thus antibody profiling can be a useful tool in determining therapeutic response and persistence of infection.