| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, November 1999, p. 930-933, Vol. 6, No. 6
Microbiology Research
Laboratory1 and Section of Infectious
Diseases,4 Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center,
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601, and Wisconsin State Laboratory
of Hygiene2 and Department of
Medical Microbiology and Immunology,3
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Received 26 May 1999/Returned for modification 26 July
1999/Accepted 27 August 1999
The borreliacidal-antibody test has been used for the serological
detection and confirmation of Lyme borreliosis. However, the presence
of antimicrobial agents in serum can confound the accurate detection of
borreliacidal antibodies. In this study, we developed a Bacillus
subtilis agar diffusion bioassay to detect small concentrations
of antimicrobial agents in serum. We also used XAD-16, a nonionic
polymeric resin, to adsorb and remove high concentrations of
amoxicillin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, doxycycline, and
erythromycin without significantly affecting even small concentrations
of immunoglobulin M (IgM) or IgG borreliacidal antibodies. High
concentrations of penicillin could also be removed by adding 1 U of
penicillinase without significantly influencing the levels of
borreliacidal antibodies. These simple procedures greatly enhance the
clinical utility of the borreliacidal-antibody test.
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Detection of Borreliacidal Antibodies in Lyme
Borreliosis Patient Sera Containing Antimicrobial Agents

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbiology
Research Laboratory, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, 1836 South
Ave., La Crosse, WI 54601. Phone: (608) 782-7300, ext. 2042. Fax: (608) 791-6602. E-mail: scallist{at}gc.gundluth.org.
Present address: Department of Biomedical Research, University of
Texas Health Science Center, Tyler, TX 75708.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»