Development and Evaluation of a New Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Serodiagnosis of Human Fasciolosis

Fasciolosis is an important plant-borne trematode zoonosis. This disease is of both clinical and veterinary relevance and, according to the WHO, is considered a re-emerging disease that is spreading around the world. Fasciolosis has a serious impact on health because of the large size of the parasite and the effects of the parasite in down-regulating the host immune response. Human fasciolosis can be distinguished by an acute phase, in which the parasite migrates through different tissues, and a chronic phase in which it invades the bile ducts. Here we describe the development of a rapid, simple and inexpensive immunochromatographic diagnostic method, based on the use of a recombinant cathepsin L1 protein, which performs better than other more complex indirect methods, providing similar specificity and higher sensitivity. The simplicity of the method represents a great advantage for the intervention systems applied in different endemic areas by WHO, such as passive case finding (e.g. Vietnam) and selective treatment (e.g. Egypt). Because of its characteristics, the system can be applied to both phases of the disease, and in holo, meso and hyperendemic areas where point-of-care testing is required