Abstract
The systemic fungal infection, blastomycosis, which infects both humans and animals has presented a diagnostic challenge for clinicians for many years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic sensitivity of Blastomyces dermatitidis yeast lysate antigens with respect to antibody detection in dogs with blastomycosis. Lysate antigens were prepared from B. dermatitidis isolates T-58 and T-66 (dogs, Tennessee) and WI-R and WI-J (dogs, Wisconsin). Based on results obtained from a preliminary comparative study, five combinations of these isolates and one individual isolate were tested against 92 serum specimens from dogs with culture-proven or histologically-confirmed blastomycosis, using the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Mean absorbance values obtained from the sera ranged from 0.905 with the individual T-58 antigen to 1.760 using an antigen combination (T-58 + T-66 + WI-R). All of the 6 antigenic preparations were able to detect antibody in the serum specimens, but the antigen combinations detected antibody to a higher degree than the individual antigen. This study provides evidence that combinations of the yeast lysate reagents seem to be more efficacious for antibody detection in dog sera, but our laboratory is continuing to evaluate antigen lysate combinations for detection of antibodies in blastomycosis.
Highlights
Blastomycosis, a systemic fungal infection of humans and animals, is produced by the dimorphic fungal organism Blastomyces dermatitidis
Our current studies are aimed at evaluating combinations of the various B. dermatitidis yeast lysate antigens for the detection of antibodies in serum specimens from dogs with blastomycosis
This study indicates that certain combinations of antigens are preferable as immunodiagnostic reagents for antibody detection of B. dermatitidis in sera from dogs
Summary
Blastomycosis, a systemic fungal infection of humans and animals, is produced by the dimorphic fungal organism Blastomyces dermatitidis. For the past several years the thrust of research in our laboratory has been associated with studies on various strains of B. dermatitidis from human, animal, or environmental specimens from many geographical locations in an effort to better understand the immunobiology of the organism [18–27]. In some instances, culturing or histopathological examination may be beneficial, but in some patients these methods may not yield the desired results This has led to more and more research being done to improve immunological assays which tend to provide a more rapid diagnosis, but we, as well as many other investigators, recognize that problems still exist with regard to the sensitivity and specificity of immunoassays. Our current studies are aimed at evaluating combinations of the various B. dermatitidis yeast lysate antigens for the detection of antibodies in serum specimens from dogs with blastomycosis
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