evaluation of schistosoma haematobium adult and egg antigens by elisa in diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis

background: the aim of this study was using elisa for detection of anti- schistosoma haemato­bium antibodies in both sera and urine of patients with urinary schistosomiasis. methods: thirty three sera and urine samples were collected from patients with acute schisto­somi­asis in diyala province, east of iraq in 2006.   their diseases were confirmed by find­ing   s. haematobium ova in urine examination. sera and urines of 10 healthy individuals as well as 5 patients with hydatidosis and 5 patients with acute toxoplasmosis were examined as well.  sam­ples were examined for antibody detection by elisa method. the antigens used in this study were egg and adult antigens. results: all positive samples (sera and urines) showed positivity by using egg antigen whereas the negative control samples were negative; only two samples with hydatidosis were positive with using serum sample whereas with urine sample only one sample was positive. in this study, the best sensitivity and specificity obtained when using urine and adult antigen. conclusion: antibody detection by using urine is a useful, simple, and sensitive method for di­agnosis of schistosomiasis.