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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1968 July; 16(7): 1019-1023
Copyright © 1968 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rapid, Sensitive Assay for Staphylococcal Enterotoxin and a Comparison of Serological Methods

Department of the Army, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21701

ABSTRACT

Reversed passive hemagglutination was used to assay enterotoxin in culture filtrates and in food samples. With cells tanned and then sensitized with antitoxin globulin and preserved with either formaldehyde or pyruvic aldehyde, as little as 0.0007 µg of enterotoxin was detectable. The results of hemagglutination tests compared well with those obtained by quantitative precipitin tests or by immunodiffusion, but hemagglutination was 50 to 100 times more sensitive than the immunodiffusion technique. In addition, results of the hemagglutination test were available within a few hours, and neither elimination of interfering proteins from food extracts nor concentration of the sample, both of which are necessary for immunodiffusion, was required for this procedure.