EVALUATION OF A PASSIVE HEMAGGLUTINATION ASSAY AS SCREENING-TEST AND OF A RECOMBINANT IMMUNOBLOT AS CONFIRMATORY TEST FOR SEROLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF LYME-DISEASE
A. Hamannbrand et al., EVALUATION OF A PASSIVE HEMAGGLUTINATION ASSAY AS SCREENING-TEST AND OF A RECOMBINANT IMMUNOBLOT AS CONFIRMATORY TEST FOR SEROLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF LYME-DISEASE, European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases, 13(7), 1994, pp. 572-575
In order to evaluate a commercially available passive hemagglutination
assay (PHA) as a screening test for the diagnosis of Lyme disease, 17
3 sera were tested by PHA and the results compared with those obtained
by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and a conventional immu
noblot using whole cell antigen (IB). Identical results were found by
PHA and IFA in 80 % of all cases. The sensitivity of the PHA was compa
rable to that of the IB (96 %). However, confirmation of positive PHA
results was necessary due to lack of specificity. A commercially avail
able recombinant immunoblot (RIB) was compared to a conventional IB fo
r its efficiency as a confirmatory assay. The rate of agreement was 86
% of 64 sera tested positive or negative by IB. However, in order to
obtain this high concordance of the RIB and IB, it was necessary to mo
dify the RIB interpretation criteria of the manufacturer. Thus, screen
ing of serum specimens by the PHA and confirmation of test results by
the RIB appears to be a convenient test combination that allows the se
rological diagnosis of Lyme disease in most cases.