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Int. J. Med. Sci. 2011, 8

428

International Publisher

Ivyspring

International Journal of Medical Sciences
2011; 8(5):428-432

Research Paper

A Comparison of Immuncapture Agglutination and ELISA Methods in Serological Diagnosis of Brucellosis
Mehmet Özdemir1, Bahadır Feyzioğlu2, Muhammed Güzel Kurtoğlu4, Metin Doğan2, Hatice Türk Dağı3, Şerife Yüksekkaya4, Recep Keşli4, BülentBaysal1
1. 2. 3. 4. Department of Medical Microbiology, Selcuk University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Karaman State Hospital, Karaman, Turkey Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Batman State Hospital, Batman,Turkey Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Konya Education and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey

 Corresponding author: Mehmet Özdemir MD,Department of Clinical Microbiology, Selcuk University Meram Medical Faculty, TR-42080, Konya, Turkey. Tel: 0.332.2236856; Fax: 0332.2236181; e-mail: mehmetozdem@yahoo.com
© Ivyspring International Publisher. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Reproduction is permitted for personal, noncommercialuse, provided that the article is in whole, unmodified, and properly cited.

Received: 2011.01.24; Accepted: 2011.06.16; Published: 2011.07.13

Abstract
Background: Different serological tests are used in serologic diagnosis of brucellosis. The most widely used of these are Standard Tube Agglutination and Coombs anti-brucella tests. Whereas ELISA Ig M and Ig G tests have been in use for along time, immuncapture agglutination test has been recently introduced and used in serological diagnosis. The aim of this study was to compare diagnostic values of ELISA Ig M and Ig G and immuncapture agglutination tests with Coombs anti-brucella test. Methods: Sera from 200 patients with presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis were included into the study. Coombs anti-brucella test, ELISA Ig M and IgG tests and Immuncapture test were investigated in these sera. Then, sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive and positive predictive values were calculated. Results: Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive and positive predictive values were found to be 90,6 %, 76,3 %, 94,2 %, and 65,9 % respectively for the Immuncapture test, whereas they were found to be 73,7 %, 58,9 %, 84,2 %, and42,8 % for Ig G and 72,2 %, 67,8 %, 85,2 %, and 48,7 % for Ig M. The Immuncapture test was found to be compatible with ELISA Ig M and Ig G tests but it was statistically incompatible with Coombs anti-brucella test. Conclusions: Immuncapture agglutination test yields similar results to those of Coombs anti-brucella test. This test is a useful test by virtue of the fact that it determines blockingantibodies in the diagnosis and follow-up of brucellosis.
Key words: Brucellosis, immuncapture, ELISA, IgG, IgM, serologic diagnosis

INTRODUCTION
Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection that is transmissible from animals to humans and it affects various organs and leads to different clinical symptoms. It progresses with symptoms and signs such as high temperature, sweating and pain in the jointsbut it is also a disease that leads to clinical pictures imitating rheumatic and psychiatric diseases. Brucella is a gram negative staining, immotile, non spore forming, aerobic, microaerophile and coccobacillus bacteria that has microcapsules when it is newly separated from the

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Int. J. Med. Sci. 2011, 8 organism. Isolation of the microorganism from the culture ensuresdiagnosis of the disease but sensitivity of this method is correlated 30-90 % with the stage of the disease (1). When the culture is found negative, investigation of classic serologic tests and antibodies occupy an important place in diagnosis of brucellosis. Antibodies begin to form 2 weeks after the beginning of disease. Those who engage in animal husbandry may have normal antibodies at 1/80...