title: Evaluation of the usefulness of six commercial agglutination assays for serologic diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.
abstract: Six agglutination tests for detecting Toxoplasma gondii-specific antibodies (immunoglobulin G or M) in serum were performed and compared. In total, 599 sera were examined using direct and indirect agglutination assays. Sensitivity varied from 93.7% to 100% and specificity from 97.1% to 99.2%. In a selected population with interfering diseases, the percentage of false positives ranged from 4.3% to 10.9%. Although an overall agreement of 100% was found for chronic toxoplasmosis, sensitivity for the detection of confirmed acute toxoplasmosis ranged from 86.4% to 97.3%. Regarding the large variability in terms of the performance of the 6 assays, tests based on the hemagglutination principle were found to be better than the other agglutination tests for all the panels evaluated, meaning that they could be used as qualitative or semiquantitative low-cost screening assays.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Parasitologie et de Pathologie Tropicale de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Hôpitaux universitaires de Strasbourg, 3 rue Koeberlé, Strasbourg, France. ovillard@unistra.fr
authors.forename: Odile
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Villard
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cimon
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Franck
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fricker-Hidalgo
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Godineau
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Houze
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paris
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pelloux
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Villena
authors.forename: Ermanno
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Candolfi
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M