The significance of the level of antibodies in the evaluation of the effects of treatment of toxocariasis.

The observation of a group of 168 children treated for toxocariasis shows that the most frequent symptoms at the time of the physical examination were abdominal pains--41%; headache was observed in 12% cases. Eosinophilia was found in 9.2% cases. The final diagnosis was based on the results of serological investigation. The level of IgG antibodies was established by the ELISA method using the excretory--secretory antigen of Toxocara canis larvae. A few years of studies lead to the observation that after treatment the return of the level of antibodies to normal is a very slow process--positive results are found in 57% of patients even after 4 to 7 years, and the decrease of the mean titre of antibodies does not exceed 45%. The observations show that examination of the level of antibodies in the way hitherto applied does not provide a satisfactory indication of the positive effect of treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system of additional laboratory tests that will allow a faster evaluation of the effects of treatment of this disease.