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Usefulness of Toxoplasma gondii recombinant antigens (GRA1, GRA7 and SAG1) in an immunoglobulin G avidity test for the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis

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Abstract

The precise diagnosis of an acute and recent Toxoplasma infection in pregnant women and the newborn child is important before treatment. This study describes a new Toxoplasma gondii IgG avidity test based on a combination of recombinant GRA1, GRA7 and SAG1 antigens and shows that this test is useful for diagnostic purposes and may replace the lysed, whole-cell antigens. Although more sera need to be tested, the results obtained here suggest that the IgG avidity test performed with rec-antigens correlated more with the stage of a T. gondii infection than the IgG avidity results obtained with the lysed, whole-cell antigen test, the VIDAS Toxo IgG avidity (bioMérieux).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research Grants 4 PO5A 103 8 to H.P. We thank M. Piesik, A. Rost and E. Zieliniewicz for excellent technical help. We appreciate the editorial advice on the manuscript by Mrs. J. Busch and Dr. G. K. Barrell from Lincoln University, New Zealand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Tropical Parasitology, Inter-Faculty Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, ul. Powstania Styczniowego 9b, Gdynia, 81-519, Poland

    H. Pietkiewicz & P. Myjak

  2. Department of Microbiology, Gdańsk University of Technology, ul. Narutowicza 11/12, Gdańsk, 80-952, Poland

    E. Hiszczyńska-Sawicka & J. Kur

  3. Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital-Skejby, Aarhus, Denmark

    E. Petersen

  4. Laboratory of Parasitology, Statens Seruminstitut, Artillerivej 5, Copenhagen S, DK-2300, Denmark

    H. V. Nielsen

  5. Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Medical University of Poznań, ul. Przybyszewskiego 49, Poznań, 60-355, Poland

    M. Paul

  6. Agriculture and Life Sciences Division, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

    M. Stankiewicz

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  1. H. Pietkiewicz
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  2. E. Hiszczyńska-Sawicka
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  3. J. Kur
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  4. E. Petersen
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  5. H. V. Nielsen
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  6. M. Paul
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  7. M. Stankiewicz
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  8. P. Myjak
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Correspondence to P. Myjak.

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Pietkiewicz, H., Hiszczyńska-Sawicka, E., Kur, J. et al. Usefulness of Toxoplasma gondii recombinant antigens (GRA1, GRA7 and SAG1) in an immunoglobulin G avidity test for the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis. Parasitol Res 100, 333–337 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0265-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0265-1

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