1. Two-Component Direct Fluorescent-Antibody Assay for Rapid Identification of Bacillus anthracis
- Author
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Barun K. De, Sandra L. Bragg, Gary N. Sanden, Kathy E. Wilson, Lois A. Diem, Chung K. Marston, Alex R. Hoffmaster, Gwen A. Barnet, Robbin S. Weyant, Teresa G. Abshire, John W. Ezzell, and Tanja Popovic
- Subjects
Bacillus anthracis ,DFA ,United States ,Medicine ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 - Abstract
A two-component direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) assay, using fluorescein-labeled monoclonal antibodies specific to the Bacillus anthracis cell wall (CW-DFA) and capsule (CAP-DFA) antigens, was evaluated and validated for rapid identification of B. anthracis. We analyzed 230 B. anthracis isolates; 228 and 229 were positive by CW-DFA and CAP-DFA assays, respectively. We also tested 56 non–B. anthracis strains; 10 B. cereus and 2 B. thuringiensis were positive by the CW-DFA assay, and 1 B. megaterium strain was positive by CAP-DFA. Analysis of the combined DFA results identified 227 of 230 B. anthracis isolates; all 56 strains of the other Bacillus spp. were negative. Both DFA assays tested positive on 14 of 26 clinical specimens from the 2001 anthrax outbreak investigation. The two-component DFA assay is a sensitive, specific, and rapid confirmatory test for B. anthracis in cultures and may be useful directly on clinical specimens.
- Published
- 2002
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