Comparison of Western blot,counterimmunoelectrophoresis, complement fixation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the diagnosis of Campylobacter infection

Four different techniques, counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE), complement fixation test (CFT), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting (WB) have been evaluated and compared for the serological diagnosis of infections by Campylobacter jejuni/coli (CJC). All tests were performed on serum samples from 103 culture postive enteritic patients and 93 healthy blood donors. The sensitivities of the CIE, CFT, ELISA and WB were 56.3%, 71.8%, 50% and 83%, while the specificity of these four tests was 92.5%, 90.1%, 85% and 60% respectively. The poor specificity of the WB test was considered either a potential consequence of its greater sensitivity, detecting antibodies from previous infection in healthy donors, or due to antigenic crossreactivity with other organisms. Attempts were made to develop a more specific antigen for WB using fusion-proteins of Escherichia coli β-galactosidase and a selected part of the campylobacter flagellin. However because of extensive crossreactions with the β-galactosidase part of this fusion-protein this strategy was unsuccessful. Taking into account time, cost, ease of test performance, and value of the test we would recommend the CFT, together with culture, in diagnosing Campylobacter infections.