Human serum antibody response to Campylobacter jejuni infection as measured in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was adapted to measure immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG, and IgM classes of human serum antibody to Campylobacter jejuni. Sera were tested from healthy controls, from ill persons at various intervals after exposure to an epidemiologically implicated vehicle for Campylobacter sp. enteritis, from persons exposed to these same vehicles who remained well, and from persons who chronically drank raw milk. The major antigens in the C. jejuni acid-washed antigen preparations from three different strains all migrated at about 30,000 and 63,000. Persons with Campylobacter enteritis developed rising serum IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies during the second week after infection; IgG and IgM elevations persisted longer than did IgA. Exposed persons who remained well showed similar, but lower, antibody rises. Chronic raw milk drinkers had elevated IgG levels, but not IgM or IgA levels, whether or not they were acutely exposed to an implicated vehicle.