rapid identification of vibrio cholera-01 by coagglutination test using mono-specific antibody

mono-specific antisera against vibrio cholera ogawa nih-43 and vibrio cholera inaba 35-a3 were prepared from rabbit hyperimmune sera by absorbing against a heterologous strain. using ammonium sulphate precipitation procedure, gamma globulins were purified and concentrated. to visualize antigen-antibody reaction, gamma globulins were conjugated to staphylococcus aureus cowan-l (nctc: 8325) in the presence of 50% propanol- 1. then equal suspensions of each conjugated serum were mixed to prepare v. cholera. rectal swab samples from suspected choleric patients were inoculated in bile peptone broth for 5 hours at 37°c. one drop of each sample was mixed with one drop of vbcr and coagglutination was read at 2-3 minutes. the results were compared with corresponding results obtained from conventional culture methods. specificity and sensitivity of coagglutination tests were found to be 98.03% and 95.1 %, respectively. regarding the fact that rapid diagnosis of cholera is vital to save patients, our study reveals that coagglutination test, using bivalent mono-specific antisera, can be considered as a simple, rapid and reliable test to detect v. cholera-o 1 from stool samples of suspected patients.