Rapid serological diagnosis of melioidosis: an evaluation of a prototype immunochromatographic test

Aims: To evaluate the Panbio melioidosis prototype (ICT) IgG and IgM test kits in detecting antibodies to Burkholderia pseudomallei from an endemic region of Australia. This would be of particular importance in high prevalence, low resource regions. Methods: Seventy-five culture-confirmed sera for melioidosis and 158 negative control sera from subjects in North Queensland were tested. All sera samples were also tested with an in-house indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA). Seventy-three of the positive sera were further tested using an in-house EIA IgG and IgM assay. Results: The Panbio IgG kits had a sensitivity of 50.6% (95% CL 38.9-62.4) and a specificity of 97.4% (95% CL 93.7-99.3). The Panbio IgM kits had a sensitivity and specificity, respectively, of 72.0% (95% CL 60.4-81.8) and 71.5% (95% CL 63.8-78.4). Conclusions: The ICT kits were found to be rapid and easier to use than current serological methods. In particular, the IgG ICT kit would have a potential role in determining existing disease in low resource regions.