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Volume 8, Number 10—October 2002
THEME ISSUE
Bioterrorism-related Anthrax
Bioterrorism-related Anthrax

Two-Component Direct Fluorescent-Antibody Assay for Rapid Identification of Bacillus anthracis

Barun K. De*Comments to Author , Sandra L. Bragg*, Gary N. Sanden*, Kathy E. Wilson*, Lois A. Diem*, Chung K. Marston*, Alex R. Hoffmaster*, Gwen A. Barnet*, Robbin S. Weyant*, Teresa G. Abshire†, John W. Ezzell†, and Tanja Popovic*
Author affiliations: *Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA;

Main Article

Table 1

Origin, designations, and results of cell wall and capsule direct fluorescent-antibody assays for 230 Bacillus anthracis isolatesa


Origin No. of isolates Temporal range and geographic origin MLVA genotypes representedb CW-DFA (% positive) CAP-DFA (% positive)
Human isolates 31 1943–1997; Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America 3,4,22,23,28,32,34,
35,36,37,41,43,44,
45,50,66,68 31 (100) 31 (100)
Animal isolates 29 1939–1997; Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America 3,10,20,26,29,30,35,38,40,45,48,49,51,
55,57,78,80,81,84,
85,87, 89 29 (100) 29 (100)
Environmental isolates (e.g., soil, burial sites, wool, tannery, mill) 16 1950–1993; Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America 13,14,21,24,47,62,
69,73,77,79,82 15 (94) 16 (100)
pX01 plasmid cured 4 1950–1974; North America 3 (75) 4 (100)
pX02 plasmid cured 1 Africa 1 (100) 0 (0)
2001 anthrax outbreak 149 October 2001; United States 62 149 (100) 149 (100)
Total 230 228 (99) 229 (99.6)

aDFA, direct fluorescent antibody assay; CW, cell wall; CAP, capsule; MLVA, multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis.
bKeim P, et al. J Bacteriol 2000;182:2928–36 (19).

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