Evaluation of a new serotyping kit for Streptococcus pneumoniae

A new serotyping test kit (Streptococcus pneumoniae antisera "Seiken" set; Denka kit) was evaluated for 285 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae in comparison with the standard capsular reaction (Quellung test). This new kit is based on the slide-agglutination method and is composed of eight pool sera, 40 group or type sera and 41 specific type sera. All serotyping results by using the Denka kit were completely identical to those obtained by using the conventional Quellung test. For types and groups, sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 100 %, respectively. For specific types, sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 100 %, respectively. The Denka kit is relatively rapid (mean test time, 5 min, versus 15 min by Quellung test), cheap (0.5 US$ per test, versus 1.4 US$ per Quellung test), easy to perform and does not require special equipment. The Denka kit may be useful for fieldworkers in developing countries involved in epidemiological surveys and vaccine development.