The Evaluation of Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Melioidosis Detection Targeted Capsular Polysaccharide of Burkholderia pseudomallei among Orangutans in Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island, Perak, Malaysia

Abstract

Melioidosis, an infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is one of the most common infectious diseases in conservation centers. Numerous misdiagnosis cases associated with melioidosis have been reported because this disease presents a broad range of clinical symptoms, making laboratory diagnosis challenging. As lateral flow immunoassay antigen detection has shown promising outcome as an improvement on melioidosis diagnosis, this study was conducted to evaluate the potential of CPS-specific CABT-SQ001 (Creative Diagnostic) monoclonal antibody as a rapid point-of-care (POC) detection kit for melioidosis in veterinary settings. A lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) targeted capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of B. pseudomallei was performed using CABT-SQ001 monoclonal antibody (mAB, Creative Diagnostic) conjugated onto universal LFIA strips (ab270537). The evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of the LFIA tests in the laboratory were performed using 93 clinical and environmental isolates, including 79 B. pseudomallei and 8 non-B. pseudomallei spiked in simulated whole blood samples. Then, the reactivity of the LFIA strips was further evaluated with the blood samples of two orangutans collected from BMOUI. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay using spiked blood culture were 46.84% (37/79) and 77.77% (7/9), respectively. The LFIA demonstrated false-positive results when tested with blood samples from two orangutans during field evaluation at BMOUI. LFIA in this study has the potential as a screening test when the animals showed suggestive melioidosis clinical symptoms, especially in the field where standard laboratory facilities are not available. This study provides valuable preliminary insights into the development of POC melioidosis detection among captive animals in the future.