COMPARISON OF BINAX LEGIONELLA URINARY ANTIGEN EIA KIT WITH BINAX RIAURINARY ANTIGEN KIT FOR DETECTION OF LEGIONELLA-PNEUMOPHILA SEROGROUP-1 ANTIGEN

The Legionella Urinary Antigen EIA kit (Binax, Portland, Maine) was co mpared with the EQUATE RIA Legionella Urinary Antigen kit (Binax) for its ability to detect the presence of urinary antigens to Legionella p neumophila serogroup 1. Urine specimens from patients without Legionna ires' disease (n = 33) were negative by both methods (specificity, 100 %). Twenty (77%) of 26 urine specimens from patients with Legionnaires ' disease positive by the radioimmunoassay kit were also positive by t he enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kit. If the cutoff for a positive EIA resu lt were lowered to a ratio of greater than or equal to 2.5, 23 of 26 ( 88%) urine specimens would have been positive by EIA and the specifici ty would remain 100%. Use of the EIA kit is an acceptable method for d etecting L. pneumophila serogroup 1 urinary antigens by laboratories t hat do not want to handle radioactive materials.