Analysis For Opisthorchiasis - How To Prepare For The Procedure

2023 Author: Riley Dean | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 09:15

The most informative tests for opisthorchiasis

Content

1 The danger of opisthorchiasis
2 Initial examination
3 Complete blood count, stool and liver function tests
4 ELISA and RPGA for helminthiasis
5 Preparation and rules for taking the analysis
6 Assessment of test results
7 Supplementary diagnostic measures

Among the helminthic invasions that affect humans, there are trematodes of the Opisthorchi class. They cause the development of opisthorchiasis, manifested in the defeat of the digestive tract, heart, liver and pancreas

A comprehensive analysis for opisthorchiasis helps to timely recognize the disease. Doctors prescribe it if a person has symptoms such as allergic reactions, anemia, liver enlargement, nausea and pain in the right hypochondrium.

This test is especially important for people who live in epidemiological areas. Timely diagnosis of the disease is a guarantee of complete recovery without the development of complications and negative health consequences.

The danger of opisthorchiasis

Opisthorchiasis is a serious helminthic disease that affects the pancreas, heart and liver of a person.

The development of the disease is provoked by the Siberian fluke, which parasitizes in fish. A person becomes infected with a parasite when eating fish that has undergone poor heat treatment or was raw.

After infection, a person develops fever, allergies, pain in muscles and joints, an increase in body temperature, an increase in the liver and gallbladder, and a violation of the digestive system develops.

Acute opisthorchiasis lasts up to eight weeks, then turns into a chronic form, which can exist in a person up to twenty-five years. A person develops hepatic and biliary colic, stomach and duodenal ulcers, tremors of the extremities, pancreatitis, hepatitis, chronic cholecystitis and gastroduodenitis.

To identify the cause of the pathologies, the doctor prescribes special tests for opisthorchiasis: ELISA and RPHA.

Primary examination

A doctor can detect a helminth infection after talking with an infected person. During the conversation, the physician identifies possible causes of infection: living in an epidemiological area or eating poorly cooked fish. Before a person donates blood for opisthorchiasis, an infectious disease specialist examines the person.

The disease is often massaged under ARVI, so there may be signs of its appearance. During the examination, special attention is paid to the enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver and gallbladder, allergic skin rashes, pain in the abdomen.

Often, doctors make mistakes when making a diagnosis, since they confuse the disease with surgical abdominal pathologies in an acute form, therefore, it is recommended to conduct a laboratory blood test for liver dysfunction.

An important point in diagnosing pathology is the presence of Paltsev's symptoms: swelling of the eyelids, the formation of rashes of a yellow tint, the appearance of cracks in the tongue. After examination, liver function tests and a blood test for opisthorchiasis are prescribed.

Complete blood count, stool and liver function tests

In opisthorchiasis, liver function tests will show an increase in the hepatic enzyme ALT, the presence of protein, amylase, cholesterol and related components. He also shows an increase in the number of eosinophils, leukocytes and ESR, a high level of thymol and sublimate samples, AST.

The analysis of feces and duodenal juice is carried out thirty days after the alleged infection, when the helminths begin to lay eggs that can be found. Most often, the Fulleborn and Goryachev method is used for diagnosis. Serological tests are required to make an accurate diagnosis.

ELISA and RPGA for helminthiasis

After the initial diagnosis, the doctor prescribes an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The parasite produces special proteins - antigens, which are one of the AT varieties. A blood test for opisthorchiasis determines the presence of antibodies against foreign proteins in the blood. The sensitivity of the test for an ailment in an acute form is 100%, with a prolonged course, the sensitivity decreases to 70%. Blood for testing is taken from a vein on an empty stomach.

Antibodies (immunoglobulins) IgM speak about the initial stage of development of pathology, and immunoglobulins IgG - about the chronic form of pathology. If both of these antibodies are present in the blood, the test indicates an exacerbation of the disease. To confirm the diagnosis, the study is repeated fifteen days later.

During testing, the results are false negative due to the presence of immunodeficiency, chronic pathologies, and the use of drugs. False positive results can be observed with concomitant pathologies, the development of immunity to the disease, infection with helminths in childhood, the use of drugs. Normally, antibodies to helminth should not be detected in the blood.

The analysis of RPHA indicates the presence of helminthic invasion, makes it possible to identify the number of worms. Sometimes the test may give incorrect results:

The presence of cardiac pathologies, hepatitis B or C, cancer pathologies;
HIV, injuries and fractures, pregnancy;
Drug use.

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Incorrect results can be observed in 1% of cases in an uninfected person. If the patient has allergic reactions, the result may be false in 2% of cases. This also applies to the presence of diseases such as echinococcosis, trichinosis and fascioliasis.

Preparation and rules for taking the analysis

An analysis for opisthorchiasis does not require special preparation, as the attending physician will tell you to take. It is recommended to donate blood in the morning on an empty stomach; on the eve, you should not eat fatty, spicy and salty foods, alcohol.

It is also not recommended to smoke before taking blood, stop taking medications for several months. If a person has used them, he tells the doctor about this before taking the test.

These rules and recommendations make it possible to obtain reliable research results, on the basis of which the physician will prescribe effective treatment.

Note! This procedure is completely harmless and informative, so patients should not refuse it.

ELISA can be assigned to children. Their blood is also taken from a vein in the morning before meals. When conducting a study, a newborn baby is taken umbilical cord blood. The cost of the test is higher than the price of other diagnostic methods, but it has high accuracy and reliability of the results.

Assessment of test results

By the content and type of antibodies, one can see not only the presence of parasites in the body, but also determine the stage of the disease and the nature of its course. Sometimes the decoding of tests can be positive in the absence of helminth eggs in feces or bile. In this case, doctors argue about a possible small infection, a cure for pathology.

In some cases, the laboratory assistant can make a mistake due to his inattention. Therefore, it is recommended to retest after two weeks.

A blood test for opisthorchiasis, the decoding of which is carried out by a laboratory assistant, indicates the presence or absence of helminthiasis in humans:

The absence of helminths is indicated by the presence of antibodies that do not exceed 1: 100;
With an indicator of 1: 400, one can argue about a previously transferred pathology;
A result from 1: 600 to 1: 800 indicates the progression of the disease;
An indicator of more than 1: 800 indicates a severe form of pathology, which led to a disorder in the activity of internal organs. Sometimes this may indicate that the pathology is neglected.

Auxiliary diagnostic measures

The use of auxiliary diagnostic techniques is recommended when examining people who have been in epidemiological areas for a long period of time, in which biliary tract pathologies have been found.

In combination with ELISA and RPGA, the doctor prescribes a fecal study. When there is a pathology of the liver and gallbladder, the test can show the presence of helminths in the body. The analysis of feces makes it possible to detect the eggs of worms; three samples are required with intervals of several days.

When a laboratory assistant takes feces for examination, he makes a native smear. For this, a small amount of material is used, glycerin is added to it and mixed, and then examined under a microscope. If more than a hundred eggs are found in one gram of feces, this indicates a mild degree of helminthic invasion; in severe cases, the number of helminth eggs increases to three thousand. Other techniques can be used for stool analysis.

Additional diagnostic methods are also MRI and CT, pancreas and liver, which show their change in the presence of helminthic invasion. Ultrasound makes it possible to deduce the degree of changes in the thickness of the walls of the bile ducts, to recognize the separation of the walls in the liver. Along with this study, bile is analyzed for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms.

The disease can be detected by another method. To do this, a blood sample is introduced into some laboratory equipment, where the antigen is in a certain amount.

If worms are present, antibodies in the blood will bind to the antigen. These antibodies are detected by adding a reagent labeled with a special enzyme that binds to them. Then another substance is added that produces the color of the enzyme. The concentration of antibodies is determined by the intensity of the staining of this enzyme.

You can hand over all of the above tests to a laboratory that specializes in research of this kind. Some doctors recommend undergoing a comprehensive examination, since the signs of opisthorchiasis may be similar to other helminthic pathologies.