Detection of Salmonella spp. in clinical specimens by capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

A capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Kirkegaard and Perry Laboratories, Gaithersburg, Md.) was used to detect Salmonella spp. in clinical and artificially inoculated specimens. In patients with bacteremia caused by Salmonella spp., 48% (12 of 25) and 82% (13 of 16) of serum and urine specimens, respectively, were positive for Salmonella spp., as determined by ELISA. All serum and urine specimens collected from healthy individuals (25 specimens) or patients whose blood cultures grew gram-negative bacteria other than Salmonella spp. (18 specimens) were negative for Salmonella spp., as determined by ELISA. For blood culture bottles in which Salmonella spp. (16 specimens) was grown the ELISA was positive (100%), while it was negative for all the 65 blood culture bottles in which gram-negative bacteria other than Salmonella spp. (42 specimens) or gram-positive bacteria (23 specimens) were grown. All samples of urine (16 specimens), stool (8 specimens), serum (16 specimens), culture media (12 specimens), and blood culture bottles (reported sterile after 2 weeks of incubation; 16 specimens) that were artificially inoculated with 10(3) to 10(7) CFU of four species of Salmonella per ml were positive by ELISA. Similar specimens inoculated with or containing various species other than Salmonella were negative by this test. Thus, ELISA offers a promising opportunity for the rapid detection of Salmonella spp. in clinical microbiology laboratories.