Comparison of seven commercial kits for detection of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi.

Abstract

Five enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and two Western blot (WB) commercial kits were compared for their ability to detect antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. The panel of 53 test sera consisted of 25 sera positive for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, 15 sera negative for such antibodies, 5 sera reactive in serologic tests for syphilis, and 8 sera containing antinuclear antibodies and/or rheumatoid factor. The rate of agreement with reference results was 93%, 90%, 90% and 88% for EIA kits from Diamedix, Cambridge Biotech, Mardx and Sigma respectively. The sensitivity and specificity was 84% and 100% respectively for Cambridge Biotech, 76% and 94% for Diamedix, 68% and 83% for Mardx, and 68% and 83% for Sigma. The three confirmatory tests, Cambridge Biotech WB, General Biometrics P39 EIA and Mardx WB, demonstrated 75%, 60% and 63% agreement respectively. The sensitivity and specificity was 52% and 100% respectively for Cambridge Biotech WB, 24% and 100% for General Biometrics P39 EIA, and 44% and 100% for Mardx WB. The results demonstrate the variable performance of commercial serologic kits for detection of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. WB appears to be a better confirmatory test than the single protein EIA.