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Comparison of the sensitivity of the Legionella urinary antigen EIA kits from Binax and Biotest with urine from patients with infections caused by less common serogroups and subgroups of Legionella

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Abstract

The detection of urinary antigen is the most widely used method to diagnose Legionnaires’ disease (LD), so it is important that these assays have a high sensitivity for the disease. In this study, we compare two kits for their ability to detect urinary antigen in urine samples from patients infected with Legionella species and L. pneumophila sero- and subgroups not considered as the most common causes of LD. Urine samples (n = 33) from 30 culture-proven cases of L. pneumophila serogroup (sg) 1, subgroup non-Pontiac infection, and urine samples (n = 35) from 32 cases of non-L. pneumophila species or non-sg 1 infection were examined using the Binax EIA and Biotest EIA kits. For both groups, the overall diagnostic sensitivity of the Binax kit was significantly better than the sensitivity of the Biotest kits (P < 0.0001). For the non-Pontiac group, the sensitivity was 81.8 and 42.4%, respectively, and for the non-sg1 group, it was 51.4 and 28.6%, respectively. It was concluded that the Binax kit was more suitable for the general diagnosis of LD than the Biotest kit, but we still need urinary antigen detection methods with higher sensitivity for non-sg1 LD.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Gerd Skov Joergensen (Statens Serum Institut, Denmark) for conducting some of the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Atypical Pneumonia, Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology (ABMP), Statens Serum Institut, Building 43/309, Artillerivej 5, 2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark

    C. W. Olsen & P. Elverdal

  2. Serological Unit, Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology (ABMP), Statens Serum Institut, Building 43/006, Artillerivej 5, 2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark

    C. S. Jørgensen

  3. Unit of Atypical Pneumonia, Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology (ABMP), Statens Serum Institut, Building 43/316, Artillerivej 5, 2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark

    S. A. Uldum

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  1. C. W. Olsen
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  2. P. Elverdal
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  3. C. S. Jørgensen
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  4. S. A. Uldum
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Correspondence to C. W. Olsen.

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Olsen, C.W., Elverdal, P., Jørgensen, C.S. et al. Comparison of the sensitivity of the Legionella urinary antigen EIA kits from Binax and Biotest with urine from patients with infections caused by less common serogroups and subgroups of Legionella . Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 28, 817–820 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-008-0697-x

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