Background : Biomedical nanotechnology is providing opportunities for rapid and simple diagnosis of many infectious diseases.
Purpose:The aim of this study was to evaluate nano-gold beads based-ELISA for detection of Cryptosporidium antigen in stool samples of diarrheic patients.
Methods:Two hundred stool samples were collected from diarrheic patients attending Abo Elresh hospital. Parasitological examination of the collected samples by : Direct Smear, Concentration method and staining technique.Immunological examination bysandwich ELISA and nano-sandwich ELISA. Among the whole 200 diarrheic cases included in this study.
Results: There were 5stool samples positivefor Cryptosporidium detected by M.I.F(2.5%). There were47stool samples positivefor Cryptosporidium detected by M.Z.N (23.5%). There were 78 stool samples positive for Cryptosporidium detected by sandwich ELISA (39%)and 89 stool samples positive for Cryptosporidium detected by nano sandwich ELISA(44%). The sensitivity of sandwich ELISA and Nano-ELISA for detection of Cryptosporidium antigen in human stool samples were 68% and 85% respectively. The specificity of Sandwich ELISA was 77.3%but the specificityof nano-ELISA was73.4%.
Conculsion: The nanosandwich ELISA improve the sensitivity and specificity of sandwich ELISA. .