Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Rapid detection of Haemophilus ducreyi in clinical and experimental infections using monoclonal antibody: a preliminary evaluation.
  1. Q N Karim,
  2. G Y Finn,
  3. C S Easmon,
  4. Y Dangor,
  5. D A Dance,
  6. Y F Ngeow,
  7. R C Ballard
  1. Department of Medical Microbiology, Wright-Fleming Institute, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, UK.

    Abstract

    A monoclonal antibody raised against Haemophilus ducreyi was tested for its sensitivity and specificity as an immunofluorescence (IF) reagent using simulated vaginal smears containing H. ducreyi, smears taken from skin lesions of mice infected with H. ducreyi and patients from South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia with clinically diagnosed chancroid. The IF test was more sensitive than culture or Gram staining in the simulated smears, theoretically detecting less than 4 organisms/sample. It detected H. ducreyi in 95% of the animal lesions compared with 14% detected by culture. Immunofluorescence testing identified over 90% of culture-positive cases of chancroid but also detected organisms in some culture-negative cases where clinical evidence for the diagnosis was strong. These results suggest that this antibody may provide a simple, rapid and sensitive means of detecting H. ducreyi in cases of chancroid.

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.