Evaluation of an immunochromatography strip assay for the detection of Salmonella sp. from poultry

Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742-3711, USA.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of an immunochromatography-based diagnostic kit for Salmonella. The analytical sensitivity of the test when using pure colonies of different Salmonella species was in the range of 1 X 10(4) to 1 x 10(5) colony-forming units per milliliter. The strip detected 19 of 22 strains of Salmonella spp. but failed to detect S. worthington, S. choleraesuis var. kunzendorf and S. johannesburg. The strip did not detect 27 different enteric bacteria, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella sonnei, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. In direct testing of feces (n = 66) from chickens infected with Salmonella typhimurium, the strip had a sensitivity of 12.3% and a specificity of 100%. Evaluation of the strip assay (n = 510) after sample pre-enrichment in 2% buffered peptone water (BPW) yielded a sensitivity of 93.8% and specificity of 89% when compared to isolation and identification with xylose-lysine-tergitol 4 (XLT4) selective plating media. Subsequent enrichment in Hajna tetrathionate (TT) broth yielded a higher sensitivity (94.7%) and specificity (96.8%). The agreement (kappa) between the strip test and isolation was 0.004 in direct fecal testing, 0.82 in BPW, and 0.89 in TT broth. The assay could detect Salmonella sp. as early as 18-48 hours during pre-enrichment and enrichment compared to isolation on XLT4, which required an overnight incubation step for the presumptive isolation and identification of Salmonella.