A comparison of a new diagnostic test of the human Brucellosis, the Brucella Coombs Gel Test, with other methods

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of the Brucella Coombs Gel Test (BCGT), a new serological diagnosis test, with the methods used in routine laboratory such as Brucella immuncapture test (BCAP), Standard Tube Agglutination (STA), Rose Bengal (RB) and ELISA for the diagnosis of brucellosis.Patients and Method: The serum samples of 107 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis sent from three different clinics (internal medicine, infectious disease and pediatric clinics) were subjected to four different diagnostic methods (BCAP, RB, STA, and ELISA). The correlations between these diagnostic tests were analyzed using the Cohen’s Kappa test. Additionally, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy of BCGT were measured.Results: According to the obtained data, the positivity of different Brucella tests (BCAP, RB, STA, BCGT, ELISA IgG and IgM) were 102 (95.3%), 96 (89.7%), 80 (74.8%), 100 (93.5%), 104 (97.2%) and 101 (94.3%), respectively. According to the Kappa test results, there was strong agreement between BCAP and BCGT (κ=0.824). Furthermore, the sensitivity and specificity values of BCGT in our study were 98.08% and 71.43%, respectively.Conclusion: BCGT is a rapid, cost-effective and highly sensitive test, which appears to be a promising technique for the diagnosis of human brucellosis; however, further scientific studies are needed to support the applicability of this test in routine laboratories.