DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANTIGEN CAPTURE ENZYME IMMUNE ASSAY USING GENUS-SPECIFIC MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES FOR DETECTION OF CHLAMYDIA IN CLINICAL SPECIMENS

An antigen capture enzyme immune assay (EIA) for Chlamydia antigen det ection was developed using polyclonal rabbit immunoglobulins against C . trachomatis, a genus specific antichlamydial murine monoclonal antib ody (IgG) against major outer membrane protein (MOMP) antigen of C. tr achomatis and a commercial anti mouse IgG immunoglobulin conjugated wi th HRPO. The test was evaluated against a direct immunofluorescence as say (DFA). Conjunctival specimens from 178 patients with follicular co njunctivitis and cervical specimens from 82 patients with cervicitis w ere tested for Chlamydia antigen detection by both the tests. Chlamydi a antigen was detected in 69/178 (38.76%) and 68/178 (38.20%) of the c onjunctival specimen by using EIA and DFA tests respectively. It could also be detected in 24/82 (29.27%) and 22/82 (26.83%) of the cervical specimens by EIA and DFA tests respectively. The sensitivity of the E IA test was 92.64 per cent and 86.36 per cent for the conjunctival and cervical specimens respectively against the reference DFA test. The s pecificity of the EIA test was found to be 94.54 and 91.66 per cent re spectively against the reference DFA test.