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J Med Microbiol 56 (2007), 1317-1321; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.46953-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644

Assessment of four serological techniques in the immunological diagnosis of farmers' lung disease

Gabriel Reboux1, Renaud Piarroux1, Sandrine Roussel1, Laurence Millon1, Karine Bardonnet1 and Jean-Charles Dalphin2

1 Department of Mycology, University Hospital, Besançon, France

2 Department of Respiratory Disease, University Hospital, Besançon, France

Correspondence
Gabriel Reboux
gabriel.reboux{at}univ-fcomte.fr

Received 18 September 2006
Accepted 29 May 2007

Farmers' lung disease (FLD) is a pulmonary disease that results from repeated inhalation of antigens from mouldy hay or straw. The objective of this prospective study was to assess the reliability of four serological techniques in FLD diagnosis. Sera from 15 consecutive patients with FLD, 15 healthy control farmers and 30 urban controls were analysed using four serological techniques [electrosyneresis (ES), Ouchterlony double diffusion (DD), ELISA and Western blot (WB)] with four antigens (Absidia corymbifera, Eurotium amstelodami, Wallemia sebi and Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula). In the authors' region, ES on cellulose acetate with A. corymbifera antigen was the most relevant diagnostic tool for discriminating FLD patients from healthy exposed farmers (sensitivity 87 %, specificity 100 %). DD tests were in accordance with ES, but their discriminatory power was lower. No threshold indicating both good sensitivity and specificity could be established with ELISA. WB analysis failed to identify specific bands for FLD. This study demonstrates the efficacy of determining precipitin levels with an appropriate technique, using a panel of antigens consistent with the specific exposure of a given area.

Abbreviations: DD, Ouchterlony double diffusion; ES, electrosyneresis; FLD, farmers' lung disease; ROC, receiver-operating characteristic; WB, Western blot.

Serological techniques are described completely in supplementary data available with the online version of this paper.






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