Objective: To investigate the feasibility of detecting specific antibodies in the saliva of schistosomiasis patients.
Methods: Specific antibodies in saliva samples of 32 schistosomiasis patients and 140 normal individuals were detected by using ELISA and the results were compared with those detected for specific antibodies in serum.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA were 90.6% and 94.4%, respectively, being slightly lower than that of the 100% sensitivity and 96.2% specificity for the serum. No significant difference between them was found (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Detecting specific antibodies in saliva can be used for immunodiagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica as a noninvasive method in field surveys.