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USE OF THE BRUCELLA IgM AND IgG FLOW ASSAYS IN THE SERODIAGNOSIS OF HUMAN BRUCELLOSIS IN AN AREA ENDEMIC FOR BRUCELLOSIS

The clinical utility of two complementary tests for brucellosis, the Brucella IgM and IgG flow assays, was evaluated in a hospital in eastern Turkey. The results show that the flow assays are convenient diagnostic tests for use in endemic areas. A positive result in the flow assays was obtained in 91% and 97% of the admission sera from adult and pediatric patients with brucellosis, respectively, and the sensitivity at admission was 100% for culture-confirmed brucellosis. The assay system performed equally well in diagnosing patients at different stages of illness including patients with acute, subacute, or chronic disease and with relapse. The results of the flow assays correlated well with those of a serum agglutination test at a cut-off 1:160. The agreement was 92%. Application of the flow assays on serum samples collected during a village survey for brucellosis after an outbreak demonstrated their diagnostic potential as field tests.

Received November 24, 2003. Accepted for publication February 13, 2004.

Financial support: This work was supported in part by a grant from the Hubrecht Janssen Foundation.

Authors’ addresses: Hasan Irmak, Turan Buzgan, Ömer Evirgen, Hayrettin Akdeniz, and A. Pekcan Demiroz, Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Yüzuüncü Yil University, Van, Turkey. Theresia H. Abdoel and Henk L. Smits, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute/Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Telephone: 31-20-5665470, Fax: 31-20-6971841, E-mail: h.smits{at}kit.nl.

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