Loa Loa: Antibody Responses in Experimentally Infected Baboons and Rhesus Monkeys

Antibody responses to Loa loa in experimentally infected baboons and rhesus monkeys were measured using an adult L. loa antigen in a kinetic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Animals were infected with infective stage larvae or by transplantation of juvenile worms. There were no differences between host species in antibody response and there was no relationship between adult worm numbers recovered at necropsy and antibody level. Antibody levels tended to be inversely correlated to the number of circulating microfilariae and decreased concommitant with the onset of patency. Following an initial wave, suppression of the microfilaremia was observed. Although the microfilaremia recrudesced following splenectomy, no changes in the antibody levels were noted pre or postsplenectomy. An antibody response was not demonstrable in baboons infected by transplantation of juvenile worms. Although a primary suppression of the microfilaremia by the spleen still occurred.