Table 1. Costs and technical features of the tests used (RBT, LFA and ELISA).
Features | RBT | LFA | ELISA | More advantageous tests according to this feature |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cost ($) of reagents or commercial kits per sample 1 | 0.20–0.50 | 4–6 2 | 3–8 2 | RBT |
Need for specific equipment 3 | NO | NO | YES 4 | RBT & LFA |
Technical difficulty | Low | Low | Medium-High | RBT & LFA |
Time required to process 100 to 1000 samples (h) | 0.3 to 3 | 0.3 to 3 | 3 to 4 | RBT & LFA |
Automated reading of results | NO | NO | YES | ELISA |
Need for serum pre-dilution | NO | NO | YES | RBT & LFA |
Suitable for highly haemolyzed serum | NO | YES | YES | LFA & ELISA |
Immunoglobulin detected | IgM and IgG | IgG | IgG 5 | RBT |
Useful for human diagnosis | YES | NO | NO | RBT |
1 Calculated as the division of the cost (approx.) of the material, reagents or commercial kits required by the number of samples tested.
2 Based on commercial kits prices found for different providers and countries.
3 Small common equipment like pipettes or washing devices not considered.
4 Absorbance microplate reader (cost from 5.000 to 10.000 $).
5 It depends on the conjugate used: the “in house” ELISA used in this work and most commercial ELISA kits detect IgG exclusively but ELISA tests detecting both IgM and IgG are also available