PRODUCTION OF MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES TO VI POLYSACCHARIDE ANTIGEN OF SALMONELLA-TYPHI

Twenty-four Vi antigen-specific monoclonal antibodies were produced in this study. The MAbs were found to be highly specific to Vi possessin g bacteria. Selected MAbs were used in a direct agglutination assay fo r rapid identification of S. typhi in primary bacterial culture and al so used to develop an assay to detect Vi antigen in clinical specimens . The result showed that they could not detect the antigen in urine an d serum from acute patients even they could detect as low as 0.02 mug/ ml of Vi antigen added in normal urine. The study has shown that these MAbs are very useful for rapid identification of S.typhi in primary b acterial culture and they can replace polyclonal anti-Vi antibodies wh ich have been used routinely in bacteriological laboratories.