Sensitivity and specificity of serology in determining recent acute Campylobacter infection

Abstract

The use of Campylobacter-specific antibody levels as the sole marker of prior infection is an unreliable method of determining the association between Campylobacter infection and neurological disease.

Immunity to Campylobacter: its role in risk assessment and epidemiology

“…Antibody decay, although highly variable between individuals, was demonstrated in longitudinal studies (Strid et al 2001;Cawthraw et al 2002;Taylor et al 2004). Hence, even though anti-Campylobacter IgG antibodies may persist for several years, their high prevalence indicates repeated (symptomless) infection by Campylobacter during life.…”

Utility of serum Campylobacter specific antibodies in determining prior Campylobacter infection in neurological disease

“…For comparison, figures for acute C. jejuni enteritis patients from a 2004 report by Taylor et al are also shown. 19 The neuropathy group included nine patients with CIDP and five with MMN.…”

“…The findings for the two control groups recruited for our prior Campylobacter antibody study were utilized again in the present study. 19 These control groups comprised 420 healthy blood donors with no recent history of Campylobacter infection, and 34 patients with neurological diseases other than MND, CIDP, MMN and GBS, including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, headache, progressive supranuclear palsy and epilepsy. Data from the control groups were collected concurrently with those from the patient groups.…”

“…We have recently described and validated our C. jejuni antibody assay. 19 The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method used was highly specific for CAs, but not particularly sensitive, with only two-thirds of acute C. jejuni infections associated with significant rises in at least two classes of CAs as per criteria established by Kaldor et al 20 CAs can remain elevated following an acute infection, in some cases for years. 19 Similar levels of sensitivity were reported by Strid et al in a Danish study.…”

“…19 The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method used was highly specific for CAs, but not particularly sensitive, with only two-thirds of acute C. jejuni infections associated with significant rises in at least two classes of CAs as per criteria established by Kaldor et al 20 CAs can remain elevated following an acute infection, in some cases for years. 19 Similar levels of sensitivity were reported by Strid et al in a Danish study. 21 It is possible that CAs in the sera of patients with GBS represent antibodies cross-reacting with some components of peripheral nerves damaged during the immune attack rather than recent C. jejuni infection.…”