Enhanced serodiagnosis of melioidosis by indirect ELISA using the chimeric protein rGroEL-FLAG300 as an antigen

BACKGROUND: The accurate and rapid diagnosis of melioidosis is challenging. Several serological approaches have been developed using recombinant antigens to improve the diagnostic indices of serological tests for melioidosis. METHODS: Fusion proteins from Burkholderia pseudomallei (rGroEL-FLAG300) were evaluated as a potential target antigen for melioidosis antibodies. A total of 220 serum samples from 38 culture proven melioidosis patients (gold standard), 126 healthy individuals from endemic (n = 37) and non-endemic (n = 89) Thai provinces and 56 patients with other proven bacterial infections as negative controls were tested using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). RESULTS: Using an optical density (OD) cut-off of 0.299148, our assay had 94.74% sensitivity (95% confidence interval (CI) = 82.3–99.4%), 95.05% specificity (95% CI = 90.8–97.7%), and 95% accuracy, which was better than in our previous work (90.48% sensitivity, 87.14% specificity, and 87.63% accuracy). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the application of chimeric antigens in ELISA could improve the serological diagnosis of melioidosis and should be reconfirmed with greater patient numbers.