THE USE OF A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY FOR THE DETECTION OF CLOSTRIDIUM-DIFFICILE TOXIN-A

A commercially available enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of Clostridium difficile toxin A (Premier Toxin A EIA, Meridian Diagnostics, Cincinnati, Ohio) was compared with tissue culture cytotoxicity assay, enterotoxigenic culture, and latex agglutination test for the laboratory diagnosis of C difficile-associated disease. When evaluated for detection of C difficile-associated disease using clinical specimens, EIA was the most sensitive (83.1%) and tissue culture cytotoxicity assay was the most specific test with EIA, tissue culture cytotoxicity assay and enterotoxigenic culture having similar correlation values (96.6, 96.1, 94.0%, respectively). The latex agglutination test was not as accurate (89.7% correlation) as the other three tests due mainly to its poor sensitivity (47.9%). The EIA is a rapid, easy-to-use alternative to tissue culture cytotoxicity assay for detection of C difficile-associated disease.