Bovine filariid worm (Setaria cervi) antigen was evaluated for the immunodiagnosis of human filariasis. Patients with manifestations of filarial infection; [1) microfilaremia cases, (2) chronic clinical cases, (3) tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) cases) were taken for the investigations along with (4) normal endemic and non-endemic human subjects. CIEP, IFAT and ELISA tests were employed for detection of serum antibodies. There was a high degree of sensitivity shown by IFAT (1:64-1:256) and ELISA (1:200-1:20,800) in microfilaraemia cases and higher in chronic clinical cases with IFAT (1:128-1:1,024) and ELISA (1:12,800-1:102,400). Only one TPE case showed positive titre by IFAT (1:64) and ELISA (1:200) whereas sera from controls and patients with helminth infections did not show positive titres (1:100). In the case of CIEP, positive reaction was seen in only one case from group I.

Department of Zoonosis Haffkine Institute Parel Bombay India