On the serum PCR in the diagnosis of pig cysticercosis

In a recent manuscript by Ramahefarisoa et al. (2010), the authors compare two techniques for the diagnosis of ante-mortem porcine cysticercosis. One of the techniques is the antibody detection by ELISA, already employed in the diagnosis of pig cysticercosis (Deckers et al., 2008), and the second is a serum PCR targeting mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene (COI). According to the authors, the use of PCR in serum for the diagnosis of human or porcine cysticercosis has not been reported so far. Due to the high specificity results of the PCR assays, the authors propose its use to confirm Taenia solium pig cysticercosis.