[Evaluation of usefulness of commercial recomwell Campylobacter enzyme--linked immunosorbent assays for routine serodiagnosis of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli infections].

The commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA recomWell Campylobacter) from Mikrogen was evaluated for the diagnosis of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli infections. Serum samples from 20 healthy controls, 44 persons with symptoms of primary Campylobacter infection and 24 serum samples from patients with Yersinia enterocolitica or Salmonella infections were tested. This ELISA assay detects IgA and IgG antibodies against three recombinant antigens of the Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli: OMP 18 (18 kDa), PEB4 (31 kDa) and P39 (39 kDa). The healthy controls showed significantly lower antibody titers in all two immunoglobulin classes. The IgA antibodies were diagnosed only in 2 (18.2%) serum samples obtained from patients with bacteriologically confirmed campylobacteriosis. The presence of IgG antibodies was confirmed in 82% of serum samples. Furthermore, we showed that 66.7% of the 33 serum samples obtained from the patients suspected for campylobacteriosis not confirmed by isolation, were positive for IgG and 15.2% for IgA antibodies. We observed also not specific reactions in ELISA recom Well Campylobacter with sera obtained form patients with yersiniosis and salmonelosis. This study demonstrates the usefulness of commercially available assay for the routine diagnosis of Campylobacter infection but with some limitations.