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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, November 2001, p. 1177-1180, Vol. 8, No. 6
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.6.1177-1180.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Diagnosis of Babesiosis Using an Immunoblot Serologic Test

Raymond Ryan,1,* Peter J. Krause,2,3 Justin Radolf,3 Kathy Freeman,2 Andrew Spielman,4 Ronald Lenz,2 and Andrew Levin5

Departments of Clinical Microbiology1 and Pediatrics2 and the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis,3 University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, and Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston,4 and Immunetics Corporation, Inc., Cambridge,5 Massachusetts

Received 8 November 2000/Returned for modification 2 March 2001/Accepted 19 July 2001

Although the current indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) diagnostic antibody test for human babesiosis is sensitive and specific, an immunoblot antibody test may be easier to standardize and to perform. Our objective, therefore, was to determine the efficacy of and develop interpretive criteria for an immunoblot antibody test for diagnosing acute human babesiosis using a Babesia microti whole-cell lysate as the antigen. We compared the reactivity of sera to a B. microti immunoblot assay in 24 human subjects experiencing symptoms and expressing laboratory evidence of babesiosis, 28 subjects who experienced Lyme disease, 12 subjects who experienced human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and 51 subjects who reported no history of any of these diseases and whose sera did not react against B. microti antigen in an IFA test. Immunoblot strips were impregnated with proteins derived from the GI strain of B. microti that had been electrophoresed in an acrylamide sodium dodecyl sulfate gel, followed by electroblotting onto nitrocellulose membranes. The sera of all subjects who experienced babesiosis reacted against the B. microti antigen in the IFA and against at least one of nine immunoblot protein bands specific to B. microti. In contrast, none of the sera from people who appeared not to have experienced this infection reacted against the B. microti antigen in the IFA (compared to 4% in the immunoblot assay). When two reactive bands were considered as definitive, immunoblot test sensitivity was 96%, while specificity was 99% and predictive positivity and predictive negativity were 96 and 99%, respectively. Our B. microti immunoblot procedure shows promise as a sensitive, specific, and reproducible assay for routine clinical diagnosis of acute babesiosis.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Clinical Microbiology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Ave., Farmington, CT 06030. Phone: (860) 679-2865. Fax: (860) 679-1098. E-mail: Rryan{at}NSO1.UCHC.edu.


Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, November 2001, p. 1177-1180, Vol. 8, No. 6
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.6.1177-1180.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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  • Clawson, M. L., Paciorkowski, N., Rajan, T. V., La Vake, C., Pope, C., La Vake, M., Wikel, S. K., Krause, P. J., Radolf, J. D. (2002). Cellular Immunity, but Not Gamma Interferon, Is Essential for Resolution of Babesia microti Infection in BALB/c Mice. Infect. Immun. 70: 5304-5306 [Abstract] [Full Text]