It has become increasingly evident that in intestinal
schistosomiasis, parasitological techniques frequently fail to reveal
low-intensity infections. This happens in countries with a low level
of transmission as Venezuela, where approximately 80% of individuals
eliminate less than 100 eggs/g of feces. In this and other
countries as China, control programs have incorporated serology as a
way of improving diagnosis and treatment of the affected populations.
Several serologic tests such as the circumoval precipitin test,
indirect immunofluorescent assay, and immunoenzymatic assays with
crude antigens, have been preferred among the antibody detection
methods. However, none of them fulfill all of the following
requirements: low cost, simplicity, high specificity and sensitivity,
and correlation with active infection and worm burden. As alternative,
the detection of circulating antigens such as the circulating cathodic
antigen and the circulating anodic antigen by monoclonal antibodies
have shown promising results only in areas of moderate and high
transmission of schistosomiasis. Therefore, alternative methods need
to be developed and synthetic peptides, either for the detection of
antibodies or antigens, could be one of the approaches.
