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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, November 2001, p. 1177-1180, Vol. 8, No. 6
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.
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
*
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.
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