D'Harcourt S C, Soto A B, Burgos V C, Calero D L, Martínez-Zapico R
Microbiology Department, La Paz Universitary Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1996 Sep;15(9):749-52. doi: 10.1007/BF01691965.
To evaluate enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as an alternative to indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) to screen for Q fever in humans, 157 serum samples from patients suspected of having the disease were tested for immunoglobulin G antibodies to Coxiella burnetii. The agreement between the tests and the sensitivity of EIA were excellent (96.8% and 98.4%, respectively) when an IFA titer of > 1/160 was considered positive. All serum samples with a titer of > 1/320 in the IFA were also positive by the EIA. The EIA seems to be an acceptable alternative to IFA for screening for Q fever.
