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Memorias del Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud (Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud) is the official publication of the Institute of Research in Health Sciences (IICS) of the National University of Asunción (UNA), Paraguay. It publishes original scientific contributions in clinical medicine, biomedical research, microbiology, molecular biology, dentistry, nursing, nutrition, public health, health biotechnology, genetics, biochemistry, and related disciplines. Founded in 1983, the journal adopted its current name in 2002 and has been published exclusively online since 2015, incorporating XML article dissemination as of 2024. Since 2023, it operates under a continuous publication model. The journal accepts manuscripts in Spanish and English as original research articles, reviews, case studies, and brief communications. All content is available in open access, free of charge for authors and readers, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). It is indexed in BVS, SciELO Paraguay, HINARI, LILACS, DOAJ, Latindex, MIAR, Dialnet, CiteFactor, Google Scholar, LivRe, BASE, EBSCO, and Web of Science – SciELO Citation Index. The journal is funded by IICS-UNA, supports the OAI-PMH protocol for metadata harvesting, and uses the LOCKSS system for digital preservation of its contents.

 
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Performance of the in-house ELISA using RH and NTE antigens for serological diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii in canines

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2026.e24122604

Keywords:

Toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii, canines, strain typing, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii that generally does not produce clinical signs in dogs, although it can affect immunocompromised animals or those with comorbidities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the concordance and diagnostic performance of the in-house indirect ELISA with soluble antigens from the RH and NTE strains of T. gondii tachyzoites compared to a commercial multispecies ELISA with the recombinant p30 anti-T. gondii protein. A cross-sectional diagnostic test study was conducted with 96 canine sera, recording sex, age, and breed. The sera were processed using an in-house indirect ELISA with soluble antigens from the RH and NTE strains and compared with the commercial multispecies test. Demographic frequencies, concordance (Cohen's Kappa), optical density correlation, and diagnostic performance (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value [PPV], and negative predictive value [NPV]) were calculated. The positive reaction frequency was 40.62% for RH and 21.88% for NTE. The agreement between the two strains was moderate (Kappa = 0.4876) with high correlation (r = 0.692; p = 0.001). Compared to the p30 protein, the agreement was moderate for RH (Kappa = 0.5089) and weak for NTE (Kappa = 0.2082). The performance indicators were: RH sensitivity 71.79%, specificity 80.70%; NTE sensitivity 33.33%, specificity 85.96%. The in-house indirect ELISA enabled the evaluation of anti-T. gondii antibodies in canine sera, demonstrating greater concordance and diagnostic performance for the RH strain, providing relevant information on the usefulness of these antigens in serological studies.

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References

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Published

2026-06-30

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Original Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Memorias del Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Gayoso, I., Gonazalez Vatteone, C., Rodriguez, M. F., Arévalos de Guillen, Y., Bernal, C., Rojas, A., Delvalle, E., & Acosta de Hetter, M. E. (2026). Performance of the in-house ELISA using RH and NTE antigens for serological diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii in canines. Memorias Del Instituto De Investigaciones En Ciencias De La Salud, 24(1), e24122604. https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2026.e24122604