ELISA Kit for Diagnosing Anthrax

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit has been developed for the in vitro diagnosis of anthrax. The assay has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The kit, called QuickElisa Anthrax-PA, provides laboratories with a simple and rapid means of confirming anthrax infection in a potential bioterrorism incident or in cases of natural exposure. The assay detects antibodies to the protective antigen of B anthracis. In clinical trials, the test detected 100% of the patients with confirmed inhalational or cutaneous anthrax. The false-positive rate was less than 1% in control populations.

The kit can also be used to monitor antibodies generated in response to vaccination against anthrax with protective antigen-based vaccines. It contains a 96-well breakaway microplate, all reagents, and controls in ready-to-use format. The turnaround time for the assay is about 45 minutes, and results can be read on a standard microplate reader.

The kit was developed by Immunetics (Boston, MA, USA) and is based on the company's QuickElisa chemistry, which is designed to simplify the procedure and yield higher sensitivity and specificity than conventional ELISA methods.




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