{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,21]],"date-time":"2026-01-21T20:30:53Z","timestamp":1769027453848,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,29]],"date-time":"2021-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1622246400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Laboratory tools for diagnosing taeniosis\/cysticercosis in non-endemic countries are available; however, there is little data on their performance. To provide information on the sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of these tools, inter-laboratory studies were organized within the EU COST-Action CYSTINET (TD1302). Two serological and one coprological Ring Trials (RTs) were organized to test a panel of human-derived sera and stool samples using assays routinely conducted by the participating laboratories to detect Taenia spp. infections. Four Western blots (WBs) and five ELISAs were used by nine laboratories for cysticercosis diagnosis. In the first serological RT, the overall sensitivity was 67.6% (95% CI, 59.1\u201375.4), whereas specificity was 97% (95% CI, 89.8\u201399.6). WBs recorded the best accuracy. A second serological RT was organized, to assess the three tests most frequently used during the first RT. Two out of six laboratories performed all the three tests. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 52.8% (95% CI, 42.8\u201362.7) and 98.1% (95% CI, 93.2\u201399.7), respectively. Laboratory performance strongly affected test results. Twelve laboratories participated in the coprological RT using conventional microscopy and six laboratories used molecular assays. Traditional diagnosis by microscopy yielded better results than molecular diagnosis. This may have been influenced by the lack of standardization of molecular tests across participating laboratories.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms9061173","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,31]],"date-time":"2021-05-31T01:51:37Z","timestamp":1622425897000},"page":"1173","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Collaborative Studies for the Detection of Taenia spp. Infections in Humans within CYSTINET, the European Network on Taeniosis\/Cysticercosis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Mar\u00eda","family":"G\u00f3mez-Morales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0805-2927","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patrizio","family":"Pezzotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alessandra","family":"Ludovisi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6573-7212","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Belgees","family":"Boufana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"National Reference Laboratory for Trichinella & Echinococcus National Wildlife Management Centre (NWMC) Animal and Plant Health Agency Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pierre","family":"Dorny","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Veterinary Helminthology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Titia","family":"Kortbeek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center IDS, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, RIVM, 3720 Bilthoven, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5121-420X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joachim","family":"Blocher","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Acute Neurology, Academic Teaching Hospital Feldkirch, Carinagasse 47, 6800 Feldkirch, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6108-2586","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veronika","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Global Health, Department of Neurology, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Amati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2523-233X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah","family":"Gabri\u00ebl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Edoardo","family":"Pozio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3131-6983","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Winkler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Global Health, Department of Neurology, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany"},{"name":"Centre for Global Health, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, 0318 Oslo, Norway"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"The","family":"Participants","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1055\/s-2005-917661","article-title":"Neurocysticercosis","volume":"25","year":"2005","journal-title":"Semin. 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