MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY BASED DIFFERENTIATION OF COXIELLA-BURNETII ISOLATES

Isolates of Coxiella burnetii from different geographic regions in Eur ope, USA, Japan and Africa were compared in their binding properties t o the monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 1/4/H directed against the lipopolysa ccharide (LPS) of C. burnetii strain Priscilla. Immunoblot analysis an d enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed different binding patterns of C. burnetii isolates under study. Most of the isolates te sted did react with MoAb 1/4/H. Only four of 20 groups of isolates and one isolate of an otherwise positively reacting group did not react w ith MoAb 1/4/H. The results indicate a significant variation of LPS st ructure of the C. burnetii isolates studied.