It bas been suggested to change the present way of serological diagnosis of echinococcosis in Poland which utilizes immunoelctrophoresis for confirmation of positive results in a screening test. Diagnostic procedure should be indicated with a sensitive test, such as indirect haemagglutination or immunoenzymatic assay, and every positive result should be verifies later using a Western-blot method in order to detect the most specific reaction with 8 kDa fraction of Echinococcus antigen. Further diferentiation of the infecting species may be accomplished with the aid of Em2 plus ELISA test which detect antibodies speeific for E. multilocularis.
46 sera and 1 cerebrospinal fluid samples from 47 patients suspected of hydatidosis were examined by Western blot method, and the results were compared with those of the indirect haemagglutination, immunoelectrophoresis and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The examinations confirmed high sensitivity and specificity of the reactions with 8 kDa antigenic fraction in the Western blot. The above data supported the concept, that serological diagnosis of hydatidosis should be carried out using a high sensitivity screening test, such as ELISA, then the Western blot method to verify positive results.