الفهرس 
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Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is an important public health concern because it causes congenital toxoplasmosis, which is acquired by the fetus from the infected pregnant mother. This congenital infection can lead to severe illnesses in the fetus and newborn infant, including brain and eye dysfunctions, or even a fatal condition (Remington et al., 2001)
The most common and least invasive diagnostic methods for detecting toxoplasmosis are antibody-based serological tests.
The present work concentrated upon the evaluation of two serological tests commonly used for sero-diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in our locality. These two tests are:
1- Enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA): for detection of IgM and IgG antibodies.
2- Immuno-chromatography: for detection of IgM and IgG antibodies.
The results of the study showed that ELISA-IgM and ELISA-IgG detected a seropositivity of 53.33% and 45.33% respectively, while immuno-chromatography-IgM didn’t detect any seropositivity (0%), and immuno-chromatography-IgG detected a seroposotivity of 10.66 %.
So the sensitivity of immuno-chromatography-IgM was found to be 0% while the specificity was 100%, the accuracy rate was 46.67%,the Positive
predictive value was 0%and the Negative predictive value was 46.67 % .
On the other hand, the sensitivity of Immuno-chromatography-IgG was 23.52%, the specificity was 100%, the accuracy rate was 65.33%, the Positive predictive value was 100%, and the Negative predictive value was 61.19 %
It was found that ELISA test is superior for detection of both IgM and IgG antibodies of Toxoplasma gondii and is clearly more sensitive than immuno-chromatography, when correlated with the clinical picture of the disease.
In conclusion, our evaluation study clearly indicates that the immuno-chromatography test for detection of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG is a rapid, simple, specific, cheap but completely insensitive sero-diagnostic test for detection of IgM antibodies and of low sensitivity for detection of IgG antibodies against human toxoplasmosis. This means that immuno-chromatography test cannot be used as a replacement of ELISA because of its poor sensitivity; and in turn it is not advised to be used in clinical laboratories for the diagnosis of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis. However, it may be worth assessing this kit, in future investigations to improve the sensitivity of the test for the detection of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG antibodies. A better understanding of antibody responses in toxoplasmic patients may facilitate the development of more sensitive and specific antibody-based methods for diagnosis.