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. 2025 Jul 17;12(7):ofaf328.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf328. eCollection 2025 Jul.

Performance (Sensitivity and Specificity) of a New Point-of-Care Immunochromatography to Screen for Imported Chronic Schistosomiasis Among Long-Term Sub-Saharan Migrants

Alaa H A Hegazy  1   2 , Olga Pérez-Quílez  3 , Israel López-Muñoz  3 , Anna Chamorro  4 , Elena Abad  4 , Alba San José  4 , Júlia Valera  5 , Lluís Valerio  3 , Laura Soldevila  3   6 , Ester Gorriz  3 , Dolores Herena  3 , Elia Fernández-Pedregal  3   4   6 , Josep M Llibre  3   4 , Gema Fernández-Rivas  1 , Pere Joan Cardona  1 , Xavier Vallès  3   4   7 , Sílvia Roure  3   4   6
Affiliations

Performance (Sensitivity and Specificity) of a New Point-of-Care Immunochromatography to Screen for Imported Chronic Schistosomiasis Among Long-Term Sub-Saharan Migrants

Alaa H A Hegazy et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Imported schistosomiasis is underdiagnosed among long-term migrants in non-endemic countries. Reference standard tests are lacking for the diagnosis of chronic schistosomiasis.

Methods: This study evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of a new immunochromatography (ICT) test using serum (s) or point-of-care finger-prick (FP) whole blood against standard serological tests in long-term migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Results: A total of 202 individuals were screened, with a mean age of 42.7 years. Of these, 75.7% were male, and 42.6% were from Senegal. Test positivity rates were 15.8% for ELISA, 24.3% for ICT-p, 46.5% for ICT-b (s), and 28.7% for ICT-b (FP). All tests showed good agreement with a clinical score but with heterogeneous agreement between them. Our results indicates a higher sensitivity for ICT-b (s). Positive responses after treatment suggest good specificity for all tests.

Conclusions: ICT-b (s) shows a higher sensitivity than the other standard tests. An ICT-b (FP) strategy could be used as a first-step point-of-care screening tool for probable chronic schistosomiasis.

Keywords: chronic schistosomiasis; immunochromatography; point-of-care diagnosis; schistosomiasis screening; sub-Saharan migrants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts.

Figures

Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Positivity test result combinations in the study sample. A, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunochromatography (ICT) with pink control bands (ICT-p), and ICT with black control bands (ICT-b) using finger-prick (FP) blood. B, ELISA, ICT-p, and ICT-b using serum (s). C, ICT-b (FP) and ICT-b (s). Percentages are calculated based on the total number of individuals with any positive test result and in whom all tests have been performed (n = 98).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Box plots of clinical score distribution according to test results. A, Positive results. B, Negative results. Confidence bars show the interquartile range, covering the 10th to 90th percentile interval. Abbreviations: ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ICT-b (FP), immunochromatography with black control bands (ICT-b) using finger-prick blood; ICT-b (s), ICT-b using serum; ICT-p, immunochromatography with pink control bands.
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