Evaluation of an Electrochemiluminescence Assay for the Rapid Detection of Ricin Toxin.

In this article, we detail a comprehensive laboratory evaluation of an immunoassay for the rapid detection of ricin using the Meso Scale Diagnostics Sector PR2 Model 1800. For the assay evaluation, we used inclusivity, exclusivity, and informational panels comprised of extracts of 35 near-neighbor plant cultivar-extracts, 66 lectins, 26 white powders, 16 closely related toxins and proteins/toxoids, and a pool of 30 BioWatch filter extracts. The results show that the Meso Scale Diagnostics ricin detection assay exhibits good sensitivity and specificity with a limit of detection of 1.

Neuro-Ophthalmic Manifestations of Adult Polyglucosan Body Disease.

Background: Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) is caused by a deficiency in glycogen branching enzyme that leads to polyglucosan accumulation in multiple organs. It has a progressive clinical course with prominent neurologic manifestations. We aim to describe the neuro-ophthalmic manifestations of APBD.

Closed genome sequence of type B1 strain isolated from an infant botulism case in the United States.

We present the closed genome sequence of the strain isolated from the stool specimen of an infant diagnosed with botulism. With 4.33-Mb genome size and 28.

Rapid Presumptive Identification of and Clinical Isolates Using a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay.

We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of the InBios Active Melioidosis Detect (AMD) rapid test, a lateral flow immunoassay designed to detect capsular polysaccharides produced by or , used in conjunction with the Omni Array Reader for the rapid identification of culture isolates of or to support clinical diagnosis for response and triage during a mass casualty event, such as a biological attack. The study was conducted at 2 sites to assess the performance of the AMD test. The sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the assay was determined using 5 replicates of 35 inclusivity strains and 64 clinical background strains.

Validation of a Lateral Flow Test for the Presumptive Identification of the Presence of or in Environmental Samples.

We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of InBios Active Melioidosis Detect (AMD) rapid test, a lateral flow immunoassay designed to detect capsular polysaccharides produced by or , used in conjunction with the Omni Array Reader (OAR) for the rapid detection of or in environmental (nonclinical) samples at 2 sites. The limit of detection, using reference strains strain ATCC 23344 and strain ATCC 11668, was determined to be 10 to 10 CFU/mL. In different phases of the evaluation, inclusivity strains that included geographically diverse strains of (N = 13) and (N = 22), geographically diverse phylogenetic near neighbor strains (N = 66), environmental background strains (N = 64), white powder samples (N = 26), and environmental filter extracts (N = 1 pooled sample from 10 filter extracts) were also tested.