Detection of serum antibodies and circulating antigens in a chimpanzee experimentally infected with onchocerca vo/vu/us

Abstract

The course of the humoral immune response was followed in a chimpanzee experimentally infected over 27 weeks with a total of 168 Onchocercav olvulus 3rd-stage larvae obtained from naturally infected wild-caught blackflies. Antibodies against an adult worm extract could be detected by ELISA from week 16 onwards (after the inoculation of 44 larvae). Peak antibody levels were observed between weeks 66 and 74 (about one year after the last larval injection). Thereafter, antibody levels markedly decreased but rose again after week 120. First microfilariae could be detected from week 124 onwards. Microfilarial counts remained low (not more than two microIilariae per skin snip) until the end of the..