EVALUATION OF COMMERCIAL SLIDES FOR DETECTION OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN-G AGAINST BARTONELLA-HENSELAE BY INDIRECT IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE

Four commercial slides were compared with in-house slides for the dete ction of immunoglobulin G (IgG) against Bartonella henselae in 58 heal thy persons from a rural region by an indirect immunofluorescence assa y, MRL-BA slides (MRL Diagnostics, USA) and Virion slides (Virion, Swi tzerland) with agar-derived Bartonella henselae showed IgG titers of g reater than or equal to 1:256 in 44.8% and 51.7%, respectively, wherea s Bion slides (Bios, Germany), MRL-Vero slides (MRL Diagnostics), and in-house slides with cell-associated Bartonella henselae showed such l iters in 3.4%, 5.1% and 3.4%, respectively, The MRL-Vero slides (Barto nella IgG substrate slides, MRL Diagnostics) were further evaluated wi th 26 patients with cat scratch disease, 20 patients with lymphadenopa thy not due to cat scratch disease, 100 blood donors from an urban are a, and 120 blood donors from a mixed urban/rural area. In our mixed ur ban/rural population the IgG titer of 1:256 had a sensitivity of 84.6% and a specificity of 93.4% for the serodiagnosis of cat scratch disea se, Seroprevalence was higher in blood donors from the mixed area (50. 8%) than from the urban area (37%), MRL-Vero slides were considered us eful for the serodiagnosis of cat scratch disease by indirect immunofl uorescence and have replaced our in-house system. However, patients wi th low IgG liters should be retested three to four weeks after initial sampling to demonstrate a possible rise of IgG liters in paired sera.