[Evaluation of the Chromotitre EIA test in the diagnosis of human brucellosis].
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Chromotitre EIA test for the diagnosis of human brucellosis and compare the same with other classical serologic test.


METHODS
A prospective study was performed in 50 patients with active brucellosis. Thirty blood donors, 64 patients with different neoplastic and autoimmune infectious processes, 20 patients with history of brucellosis and 8 subjects with continuous exposure to Brucella at work were analyzed as the control group.


RESULTS
Forty-five patients with brucellosis (90%) presented a positive IgM or IgG ELISA, 32 (62%) only IgM, 34 (68%) only IgG and 22 (44%) both immunoglobulins were positive. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA test jointly evaluating IgM and IgG was 90 and 68%, respectively with these numbers being 62 and 98% and 68% and 38% for ELISA IgM and ELISA IgG. A moderate correlation was found between ELISA IgM with Bengal's Rose test (r = 0.53, p = 0.003) and sero-agglutination (r = 0.63, p = 0.0001) and ELISA IgG with the Coombs test (r = 0.55, p = 0.003). Only acceptable concordance was observed between ELISA IgM and sero-agglutination (kappa = 0.55, p = 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The ELISA test evaluated was very useful for the detection of IgM antibodies but was found to be insufficient with respect to IgG antibodies. Despite the slight diagnostic efficacy of the ELISA IgG the combined parallel use of both immunoglobulins achieved a performance similar to that achieved with the classical tests.
Colmenero
J D
JD
Unidad de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Regional, Málaga.
Porras
J
J
Cárdenas
A
A
Ocón
P
P
Reguera
J M
JM
Delgado
M
M
Sedeño
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D001782:Blood Donors; D002002:Brucella / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003298:Coombs Test; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007239:Infections / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012395:Rose Bengal; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013194:Staining and Labeling
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012395:Rose Bengal