Immunological detection of Giardiasis in 10-year-old children with diarrhea

Giardiasis is one of the most common intestinal parasitic infections causing diarrhea illness in humans worldwide. ELISA technique using for confirm the diagnosis in patients with typical clinical symptoms of giardiasis and evaluate Giardia duodenal infections in pediatric group by age ten years, this study was conducted from April to October 2023, of 133 stool samples from children were tested in Emergency hospital in Zakho city, Kurdistan region, Iraqi.63 were positive and 70 negative for G. lamblia by direct microscopic examination. The percentage of infection in male has higher comparative with the female, the number of negative stool samples in female 41(58.58) are higher comparative with the male29 (41.42).While the number of positive stool samples in male 37(58.74)are higher comparative with the female 26(41.26).The sensitivity of the ELISA test for detection of G. lamblia versus microscopy was 87.24% and the specificity was 95%.The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of ELISA test for detection of Giardia lamblia antigen in stool. This study shows the higher sensitivity of ELISA over microscopy for Giardia diagnosis and emphasizes the need for methods based on antigen detection to identify this parasite in diarrhea fecal samples.