title: Detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and by a rapid hand-held assay.
abstract: Staphylococcal enterotoxins are a frequent cause of food poisoning. Immunologically-based assays for the detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins are commercially available, but require at minimum of 3 hours. We used staphylococcal enterotoxin B to compare two commercially available assays with a newly developed rapid immunochromatographic-based hand-held assay. The detection limit of the commercially available assays accounted for 500 pg and 100 pg enterotoxin B/ml, respectively, whereas 50 pg enterotoxin B /ml were detected within 15 min using the hand-held assay. Enterotoxin B-spiked custard served as a model to detect staphylococcal enterotoxin in food. Depending on the extraction method applied, the detection limit was in the range of 500 pg to 2500 pg/g custard for the commercially available assays and 62.5 pg/g for the hand-held assay. We conclude that the hand-held assay is widely applicable because it is sensitive, specific with regard to the tested enterotoxins, and the results can be read with the naked eye.
authors.affiliation: Central Medical Service Institute of German Armed Forces Kiel-Kronshagen, Division of Veterinary Medicine. U.Schotte@t-online.de
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schotte
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Langfeldt
authors.forename: Anne H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Peruski
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D004867:Equipment Design; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000592:standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal