Serological diagnosis of pneumococcal disease with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Antibody response to pneumococcal type-specific polysaccharide was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The test was shown to be up to 500 times more sensitive than indirect hemagglutination using chromic chloride-treated red blood cells. In 16/17 patients with pneumococcal pneumonia a significant antibody increase was seen as measured with ELISA. Only 6/23 patients with pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae gave a pneumococcal antibody rise and in those cases the increase was very slight. The authors consider ELISA a valuable contribution to the serological diagnosis of pneumococcal disease.