Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1981 Jan;13(1):106–114. doi: 10.1128/jcm.13.1.106-114.1981

Improved Serodiagnosis of Salmonella Enteric Fevers by an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

William J Beasley 1, Sam W Joseph 1,†, Emilio Weiss 1
PMCID: PMC273732  PMID: 7007413

Abstract

The value of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the serological diagnosis of typhoid or paratyphoid fevers was tested with a collection of five sets of sera from 23 individuals who had no history of Salmonella infection from a nonendemic area (set 1) and from 143 patients from a highly endemic area (sets 2 to 5). The test was performed with a crude cell envelope fraction derived from Salmonella typhi. On the basis of results with sera in set 1, titers >160 (inverse of serum dilution) for immunoglobulin M (IgM) or >500 for IgG were regarded as signifying a specific antibody response. These titers were occasionally exceeded in sera in set 2, derived from patients with no clinical or laboratory evidence of Salmonella infection. In presumptive cases of typhoid or paratyphoid fevers (culture positive and agglutination negative or vice versa; 13 patients, set 3, and 26 patients, set 4, respectively), IgG antibodies were encountered more frequently than IgM, but some sera were negative in each group. In 81 confirmed cases (culture and agglutination positive, set 5) IgG antibodies were detected in at least one of the paired sera from all patients, and the IgG titers were higher (median 3,500) than those of the IgM antibodies (median 600). There was no evidence of a significant difference in IgM or IgG titers between acute- and convalescent-phase sera. The titers of 10 paired sera from patients from whom S. enteritidis, bioserotype paratyphi A, was isolated were somewhat lower than those of 84 patients with S. typhi isolation (serogroup D). There was some correlation between O antigen agglutination and IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, but otherwise the titers in the two serological tests varied independently. Of 11 patients in set 3 (2 patients with serogroup B agglutinins omitted), 1 belonged to blood group O, in contrast to 54 group O among 107 agglutination-positive patients, a distribution not necessarily reflected by the enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay. This study has provided good evidence that the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay can serve as a valuable aid to the diagnosis of Salmonella infection in an endemic area, as a substitute for the agglutination test.

Full text

PDF
106

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anderson K. E., Joseph S. W., Nasution R., Sunoto, Butler T., Van Peenen P. F., Irving G. S., Saroso J. S., Watten R. H. Febrile illnesses resulting in hospital admission: a bacteriological and serological study in Jakarta, Indonesia. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1976 Jan;25(1):116–121. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1976.25.116. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Benedict A. A. Sensitivity of passive haemagglutination for assay of 7S and 19S antibodies in primary rabbit anti-bovine serum albumin sera. Nature. 1965 Jun 26;206(991):1368–1369. doi: 10.1038/2061368b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carlsson H. E., Lindberg A. A., Hammarström S., Ljunggren A. Quantitation of Salmonella O-antibodies in human sera by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Int Arch Allergy Appl Immunol. 1975;48(4):485–494. doi: 10.1159/000231336. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Carlsson H. E., Lindberg A. A., Hammarström S. Titration of antibodies to salmonella O antigens by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Infect Immun. 1972 Nov;6(5):703–708. doi: 10.1128/iai.6.5.703-708.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chau P. Y., Ng M. H. Differential agglutination of particulate Vi and O antigens by the IgM and IgG class antibodies. Aust J Exp Biol Med Sci. 1978 Feb;56(1):39–45. doi: 10.1038/icb.1978.5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chernokhvostova E., Luxemburg K. I., Starshinova V., Andreeva N., German G. Study on the production of IgG, IgA- and IgM-antibodies to somatic antigens of Salmonella typhi in humans. Clin Exp Immunol. 1969 Apr;4(4):407–421. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dasch G. A., Halle S., Bourgeois A. L. Sensitive microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of antibodies against the scrub typhus rickettsia, Rickettsia tsutsugamushi. J Clin Microbiol. 1979 Jan;9(1):38–48. doi: 10.1128/jcm.9.1.38-48.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. DeVillier A. B., Deupree R. H., Dickinson C., Beeler M. F. Comparative study of typhoid O antigens. Am J Clin Pathol. 1965 Oct;44(4):410–412. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/44.4.410. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gracey M., Ostergaard P., Adnan S. W., Iveson J. B. Faecal pollution of surface waters in Jakarta. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1979;73(3):306–308. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(79)90089-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Halle S., Dasch G. A., Weiss E. Sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of antibodies against typhus rickettsiae, Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia typhi. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Aug;6(2):101–110. doi: 10.1128/jcm.6.2.101-110.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hill J. C., Weiss E. Protein fraction with immunogenic potential and low toxicity isolated from the cell wall of Neisseria meningitidis group B. Infect Immun. 1974 Sep;10(3):605–615. doi: 10.1128/iai.10.3.605-615.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kumar R., Malaviya A. N., Murthy R. G., Venkataraman M., Mohapatra L. N. Immunological study of typhoid: immunoglobulins, C3, antibodies, and leukocyte migration inhibition in patients with typhoid fever and TAB-vaccinated individuals. Infect Immun. 1974 Dec;10(6):1219–1225. doi: 10.1128/iai.10.6.1219-1225.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Levine M. M., Grados O., Gilman R. H., Woodward W. E., Solis-Plaza R., Waldman W. Diagnostic value of the Widal test in areas endemic for typhoid fever. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1978 Jul;27(4):795–800. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1978.27.795. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. MURRAY E. S., O'CONNOR J. M., GAON J. A. DIFFERENTIATION OF 19S AND 7S COMPLEMENT FIXING ANTIBODIES IN PRIMARY VERSUS RECRUDESCENT TYPHUS BY EITHER ETHANETHIOL OR HEAT. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1965 May;119:291–297. doi: 10.3181/00379727-119-30161. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. McMichael A., McDevitt H. The association between the HLA system and disease. Prog Med Genet. 1977;2:39–100. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. NETER E. Bacterial hemagglutination and hemolysis. Bacteriol Rev. 1956 Sep;20(3):166–188. doi: 10.1128/br.20.3.166-188.1956. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Protell R. L., Soloway R. D., Martin W. J., Schoenfield L. J., Summerskill W. H. Anti-Salmonella agglutinins in chronic active liver disease. Lancet. 1971 Aug 14;2(7720):330–332. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(71)90056-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reynolds D. W., Carpenter R. L., Simon W. H. Diagnostic specificity of Widal's reaction for typhoid fever. JAMA. 1970 Dec 21;214(12):2192–2193. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sanborn W. R., Vieu J. F., Komalarini S., Sinta, Trenggonowati R., Kadirman I. L., Sumarmo, Aziz A., Sadjimin T., Triwibowo Salmonellosis in Indonesia: phage type distribution of Salmonella typhi. J Hyg (Lond) 1979 Feb;82(1):143–153. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400025560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sansone P., Saslaw M. S., Hennekens C. H., Jr High titer Widal reaction. JAMA. 1972 Jun 19;220(12):1615–1616. doi: 10.1001/jama.1972.03200120063022. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sippel J. E., Mamay H. K., Weiss E., Joseph S. W., Beasley W. J. Outer membrane protein antigens in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Salmonella enteric fever and meningococcal meningitis. J Clin Microbiol. 1978 Apr;7(4):372–378. doi: 10.1128/jcm.7.4.372-378.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Springer G. F., Horton R. E. Blood group isoantibody stimulation in man by feeding blood group-active bacteria. J Clin Invest. 1969 Jul;48(7):1280–1291. doi: 10.1172/JCI106094. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Svenungsson B., Jörbeck H., Lindberg A. A. Diagnosis of Salmonella infections: specificity of indirect immunofluorescence for rapid identification of Salmonella enteritidis and usefulness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. J Infect Dis. 1979 Dec;140(6):927–936. doi: 10.1093/infdis/140.6.927. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Zinner S. H., McCabe W. R. Effects of IgM and IgG antibody in patients with bacteremia due to gram-negative bacilli. J Infect Dis. 1976 Jan;133(1):37–45. doi: 10.1093/infdis/133.1.37. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES