Serum Agglutination Test for Detecting O Antigen & Brucellosis Disease

By Ashley | April 8, 2010

Agglutination is known as the clumping of the particles. The word agglutination originates from the Latin word agglutinare, which means “to glue to.” This is known to occur in biology among three main examples. The first example is the clumping of the cells like bacteria or the red blood cells when in the presence of the antibody. The antibody or the other molecule then binds the multiple particles and thus joins them, helping to create a large complex. The coalescing of the small particles is thus now suspended in the solution. These larger groups or masses are normally then precipitated.

The allergic reaction type may occur where the cells tend to become more compacted or joined together thus preventing the foreign materials from entering them. This is normally the result or the output of an antigen which is in the vicinity of all the cells.

A Weil-Felix reaction refers to that sort of an agglutination test wherein the patient’s serum is first checked to see agglutinins to the O antigen. This belongs to some non-motile Proteus as also the rickettsial strains (, OX2 OXk, OX19). Testing is done in the form of tube agglutination tests. At times the slide agglutination may also be employed. The Scrub Typhus agglutinates OXk strain. The test results are negative when checked for the rickettsialpox, the Q-fever and the trench fever. A false reaction can occur in the Proteus or the other infections. The test could be false in the 50 percent of scrub typhus.

Brucellosis is a vital disease that affects the livestock and is characterized by the abortion, the retained placenta and the infertility and thus rests a leading and important zoonotic disease of any public health and of economic importance. The standard serum agglutination test or the SAT is still the most widely used for all diagnosis of the brucellosis disease and is specified so in many countries. However, the serological cross

Reactions are demonstrated between the Brucella species and other bacteria. Some examples include the. E. coli O:116 and O:157,the Francisella tularensis, the Salmonella serotypes of Kauffman-White group N, the Pseudomonas maltophilia, the Vibrio cholerae and Yersinia enterocolitica serotype. To overcome the problem, the standard serum agglutination test was modified and thus its comparative efficacy can now be described. A study was also done to evaluate the working or the performance of the serum iron studies wherein it is used as the diagnostic test for the iron-deficiency anemia patients.