01453nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002600055653003800081653001100119653001100130653001200141653000900153653002500162653001100187653003200198100001400230700001700244700002200261700001900283245007300302300000900375520078900384022001401173       2005                            d  c2005 Jan10aAntibodies, Bacterial10aEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay10aFemale10aHumans10aleprosy10aMale10aMycobacterium leprae10aSaliva10aSensitivity and Specificity1 aIushin IM1 aDiachina M N1 aBochanovskiĭ V A1 aIushchenko A A00a[Detection of antibodies to M. leprae in saliva of lepric patients].  a52-43 a<p>Saliva of 116 lepric patients were scanned for antibodies in ELISA (with M. leprae cultivated in vitro used as antigen) in order to work out an invasion-free diagnostic tool for lepra. The ELISA findings for "saliva-serum" pairs from same patients showed an increased level of antibodies both in serum and saliva in 39.7% of cases, and matching of results (positive and negative ones) was observed in 73.3% of patients. The increasing level of specific antibodies as observed in intensification of the lepric process in blood serum occurred simultaneously with its increase in saliva. The invasion-free diagnostics of lepra is promising for examinations of contact persons and of population in endemic regions as well as for evaluating the efficiency of the antilepric therapy.</p>  a0869-2084