Comparison of three immunological methods for detecting staphylococcal enterotoxins from food.
OBJECTIVE
Immunologically based assays for the detection of staphylococcal enterotoxins are numerous. These techniques include radio immunosorbent assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), some of which are available as commercial kits. The purpose of this study was to compare the performances of three commercial immunoassays.


RESULTS
Two automated detection systems, VIDAS SET bioMèrieux, VIDAS SET2 bioMérieux and an ELISA method, TRANSIA PLATE Staphylococcal Enterotoxins Diffchamb were compared for detecting different quantities of purified staphylococcal enterotoxins (A, B, C2, D and E) added to food.


CONCLUSIONS
VIDAS SET2 had a greater specificity (100%) and sensitivity than VIDAS SET and TRANSIA PLATE Staphylococcal Enterotoxins. More precisely, VIDAS SET2 could detect <0.5 ng g(-1) of toxins A and B, <1 ng g(-1) of toxins C2 and E and 1 ng g(-1) of toxins D and E.


CONCLUSIONS
Because staphylococcal food poisoning (resulting from ingestion of low levels of staphylococcal enterotoxins) is one of the most common forms of foodborne illness there is a need for specific and sensitive methods for detecting these enterotoxins. VIDAS SET2 appears to be suitable for detecting staphylococcal enterotoxins from food.
Vernozy-Rozand
C
C
Unité de Microbiologie Alimentaire et Prèvisionnelle - Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, Marcy l'étoile France. c.vernozy@vet-lyon.fr
Mazuy-Cruchaudet
C
C
Bavai
C
C
Richard
Y
Y
D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D005502:Food; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
D004768:Enterotoxins; C049463:enterotoxin E, Staphylococcal; C019368:enterotoxin D, Staphylococcal; C026066:enterotoxin A, Staphylococcal; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal; C034959:enterotoxin C, staphylococcal