DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT The Serologic Diagnosis of Parasitic Infections in Medical Practice

o Serologic tests are now available SUMMARY ^ ^ assist the physician in the diagnosis of several parasitic diseases. Combined with the clinical picture and other laboratory stud-ies these tests have proved especially useful in the diagnosis of invasive amebiasis, toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, echinococcosis, and Chagas ' disease. Evaluation of serology depends on the stage of infection, organs involved, antigen preparation, and serologic methods used. The recommenda-tions given are derived from personal experience and a selective review of the literature. Sero-diagnosis in some of the other areas of parasi-tology must await more refined methods of anti-gen preparation or new test systems