VIRAPID® HYDATIDOSIS

Imaging techniques such as ultrasound scan or X-ray are the tools usually used to diagnose hydatidosis. However, symptoms of hydatid cyst must be always confirmed by serological assay since it can be confused with other illnesses, including tumours. Cysts can be treated with chemotherapy while the treatment does not always give good results. Sometimes operation is required. There is no specific standardized and highly sensitive serological test; so, in clinical practice the serological results depend on many factors such as quality of the antigen, technique employed, affected organ, number of hydatid cysts and variability of immune responses. Due to variable sensitivity of different tests, many laboratories usually carry out at least two different techniques for their routine diagnosis. Currently, serological confirmation is performed through a combination of several techniques. The most commonly used tests are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (IgG-ELISA), indirect hemagglutination (IHA) and latex agglutination (LAT) . VIRapid® HYDATIDOSIS is the first immunochromatographic test in the marketfor hydatidosis detection and offers important benefits for both, big and small laboratories, in prevalent areas against the techniques currently used. AHPLC-purified E. granulosus 5/B enriched antigenis used to improve the specificity of the assay while keeping a high sensitivity.