Prevalence of antibodies against Entamoeba histolytica in Mexico measured by ELISA.

The prevalence of antibodies against Entamoeba histolytica was studied in the Mexican population using an immunoenzyme assay in solid phase (ELISA) and semiautomatic equipment. The antigen was a mixture of membrane proteins obtained by Triton X-100 extraction from an axenic culture of Entamoeba histolytica HM1-IMSS. The method was standardized by comparing serum samples from amoebic liver abscess patients with healthy volunteers. From the 60,538 samples supplied by the National Seroepidemiology Survey, antibodies were found in 4.49% (4.32-4.65% at 95% confidence limit). More significant titres occurred in the central region of the country. The ratio female to male was 1.25:1. The population living in metropolitan areas had probably been infected at a younger age than those living in the country. Important differences were found in the seroprevalence obtained by ELISA compared with a study which used indirect haemagglutination (IHA) in the same sample frame.