RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF Vibrio cholera-01 BY COAGGLUTINATION TEST USING MONO-SPECIFIC ANTIBODY

Mono-specific antisera against Vibrio cholera Ogawa NIH-43 and Vibrio cholera Inaba 35-A3 were prepared from rabbit hyperimmune sera by absorbing against a heterologous strain. Using ammonium sulphate precipitation procedure, gamma globulins were purified and concentrated. To visualize antigen-antibody reaction, gamma globulins were conjugated to Staphylococcus aureus cowan-l (NCTC: 8325) in the presence of 50% propanol- 1. Then equal suspensions of each conjugated serum were mixed to prepare V. cholera. Rectal swab samples from suspected choleric patients were inoculated in bile peptone broth for 5 hours at 37°C. One drop of each sample was mixed with one drop of VBCR and coagglutination was read at 2-3 minutes. The results were compared with corresponding results obtained from conventional culture methods. Specificity and sensitivity of coagglutination tests were found to be 98.03% and 95.1 %, respectively. Regarding the fact that rapid diagnosis of cholera is vital to save patients, our study reveals that coagglutination test, using bivalent mono-specific antisera, can be considered as a simple, rapid and reliable test to detect V. cholera-O 1 from stool samples of suspected patients.