The diagnostic accuracy of serological tests for Lyme borreliosis in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Interpretation of serological assays in Lyme borreliosis requires an understanding of the clinical indications and the limitations of the currently available tests. We therefore systematically reviewed the accuracy of serological tests for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis in Europe. METHODS: We searched EMBASE en MEDLINE and contacted experts. Studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of serological assays for Lyme borreliosis in Europe were eligible. Study selection and data-extraction were done by two authors independently. We assessed study quality using the QUADAS-2 checklist. We used a hierarchical summary ROC meta-regression method for the meta-analyses. Potential sources of heterogeneity were test-type, commercial or in-house, Ig-type, antigen type and study quality. These were added as covariates to the model, to assess their effect on test accuracy. RESULTS: Seventy-eight studies evaluating an Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent assay (ELISA) or an immunoblot assay against a reference standard of clinical criteria were included. None of the studies had low risk of bias for all QUADAS-2 domains. Sensitivity was highly heterogeneous, with summary estimates: erythema migrans 50% (95% CI 40% to 61%); neuroborreliosis 77% (95% CI 67% to 85%); acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans 97% (95% CI 94% to 99%); unspecified Lyme borreliosis 73% (95% CI 53% to 87%). Specificity was around 95% in studies with healthy controls, but around 80% in cross-sectional studies. Two-tiered algorithms or antibody indices did not outperform single test approaches. CONCLUSIONS: The observed heterogeneity and risk of bias complicate the extrapolation of our results to clinical practice. The usefulness of the serological tests for Lyme disease depends on the pre-test probability and subsequent predictive values in the setting where the tests are being used. Future diagnostic accuracy studies should be prospectively planned cross-sectional studies, done in settings where the test will be used in practice.

A novel method for evaluating natural and vaccine induced serological responses to Bordetella pertussis antigens.

We studied the time course of serum IgG antibodies against 3 different pertussis vaccine antigens: PT (pertussis toxin), FHA (filamentous hemagglutinin), Prn (pertactin) in sera from individuals vaccinated with four different pertussis vaccines at 4 years of age: (N=44, 44, 23 and 23, respectively,) and compared the responses to/after natural infection with Bordetella pertussis (N=44, age 1-8 years). These longitudinal data were analyzed with a novel method, using a mathematical model to describe the observed responses, and their variation among subjects. This allowed us to estimate biologically meaningful characteristics of the serum antibody response, like peak level and decay rate, and to compare these among natural infections and vaccine responses. Compared to natural infection, responses to PT after vaccination with the tested vaccines are smaller in magnitude and tend to decay slightly faster. When present in vaccines, FHA and Prn tend to produce high peak levels, higher than those in naturally infected patients, but these decay faster. As expected, the Dutch whole cell vaccine produced lower antibody responses than the acellular vaccines. This model allows a better comparison of the kinetics of vaccine induced antibody responses and after natural infection over a long follow up period.

Pertussis disease burden in the household: how to protect young infants.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a population-based, nation-wide, prospective study to identify who introduced pertussis into the household of infants aged 6 months admitted to the hospital for pertussis in the Netherlands. METHODS: During the period 2006-2008, a total of 560 household contacts of 164 hospitalized infants were tested by polymerase chain reaction, culture, and serological examination to establish Bordetella pertussis infection. Clinical symptoms and vaccination history were obtained by a questionnaire submitted during sample collection and 4-6 weeks afterwards. RESULTS: Overall, 299 household contacts (53%) had laboratory-confired pertussis; 159 (53%) had symptoms compatible with typical pertussis infection, and 42 (14%) had no symptoms. Among children vaccinated with a whole-cell vaccine, 17 (46%) of 37 had typical pertussis 1-3 years after completion of the primary series, compared with 9 (29%) of 31 children who had been completely vaccinated with an acellular vaccine. For 96 households (60%), the most likely source of infection of the infant was established, being a sibling (41%), mother (38%), or father (17%). CONCLUSIONS: If immunity to pertussis in parents is maintained or boosted, 35%-55% of infant cases could be prevented. Furthermore, we found that, 1-3 years after vaccination with whole-cell or acellular vaccine, a significant percentage of children are again susceptible for typical pertussis. In the long term, pertussis vaccines and vaccination strategies should be improved to provide longer protection and prevent transmission.

Evaluation of an in-house cat scratch disease IgM ELISA to detect Bartonella henselae in a routine laboratory setting.

Cat scratch disease (CSD) is caused by Bartonella henselae infection and is a common cause of regional lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis of CSD largely depends on serology, but detection of B. henselae in an affected lymph node by PCR is also an important diagnostic tool. We evaluated an IgM in-house ELISA protocol and analyzed its performance in routine CSD serology. Serum samples from PCR-positive patients (n = 126), PCR-negative patients (n = 123), and age-matched controls (n = 126) were used for evaluation. The sensitivity of the IgM ELISA was only 56%, showing that the performance of B. henselae serology under routine laboratory settings is low, probably caused by the wide variability in disease duration in patients suspected of CSD whose samples were submitted to our laboratory. Most patients (46%) with a positive IgM response were between 0 and 20 years of age. We conclude that the serodiagnosis of B. henselae is hampered by the low sensitivity and specificity of the assays when used in a routine laboratory setting. For this reason, a negative IgM or PCR result can never exclude CSD, especially with late sample collection.

[A midwife involved in patients with puerperal fever in three different hospitals]. / Een verloskundige betrokken bij patiënten met kraamvrouwenkoorts in drie verschillende ziekenhuizen.

In three hospitals three women aged 34, 33 and 25 years respectively, developed fever following delivery; in two of them a beta-haemolytic streptococcus of Lancefield group A (GAS) was cultured. Between the time of transmission of the infective agent of the first and the third patients there was a period of ten days. Because the intervals between the emergence of cases were relatively long, the suspicion of a common vector, i.e. the midwife, was raised only after some time. The midwife who had been present at all three deliveries turned out to be negative for GAS carriership on three occasions. However, cultures taken from her son and partner were positive for GAS carriership. A number of typing systems were unable to distinguish the GAS-isolates from the first two patients and from the son. After the midwife and her family members had been treated, no new cases occurred. This case illustrates the importance of keeping midwives as well as the department of public health informed of a rise in the number of cases of puerperal fever, whether the cases involve more than one hospital or not, in order to prevent a potential epidemic. Only then can a common source be looked for and the epidemic contained.

[The obligatory notification of pertussis is not effective for the protection of unvaccinated children]. / Meldingsplicht voor kinkhoest niet effectief om ongevaccineerde kinderen te beschermen.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of the obligatory notification of pertussis in the Netherlands and the measures based on this notification in the prevention of infection in unvaccinated or insufficiently vaccinated children. DESIGN: Descriptive, retrospective. METHOD: The period between the first day of the illness and the date of notification was calculated for all 9310 cases of pertussis that were notified in the Netherlands in 2004. A period of 21 days is the maximum during which appropriate measures can be taken in the family of the index patient to protect unprotected siblings at risk from infection. For the province of Groningen (n = 411 notified cases), it was also determined whether there were actually children that were not or insufficiently vaccinated in the immediate environment and whether preventive measures were necessary. RESULTS: In the Netherlands in 2004, 890 (10.7%) of all notified pertussis cases were notified within a three-week period after the first day of illness. In Groningen, this number was 30 (9.1%) and in none of these cases was there an insufficiently vaccinated child in the family. CONCLUSION: In an endemic situation with severe under-reporting, the obligatory notification of pertussis is not effective to prevent infection of insufficiently vaccinated children. Alternative vaccination strategies directed at the prevention of the spread of pertussis among insufficiently vaccinated children would probably be more effective and merit further investigation.

The use of Bartonella henselae-specific age dependent IgG and IgM in diagnostic models to discriminate diseased from non-diseased in Cat Scratch Disease serology.

Cat Scratch Disease (CSD) is caused by Bartonella henselae infection and is a common cause of regional lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis of CSD largely depends on serology, but is hampered by both low sensitivity and specificity of the applied IgG and IgM assays. Using an in-house ELISA, we detected a significant age-dependent increase in the IgG levels in the general population compared to CSD patients. With this knowledge, we developed diagnostic models to differentiate diseased from non-diseased persons. Evaluation of these models using samples from PCR-positive patients (n=155) and age-matched controls (n=244) showed an important increase in the assay performance if the combination of the IgG and IgM results were taken into account. If the specificity was set at 98% the sensitivity was only 45% and 32% for the IgM and IgG ELISA, respectively but increased to 59% when these results were combined. Also the use of age-dependent factors further improved the clinical relevance of the outcome raising the sensitivity to 64%. Although the sensitivity of the ELISA remains low we conclude that the use of models using the combination of both IgM and IgG test results and age-depending factors can be a useful diagnostic tool in the serodiagnosis of CSD.

[Invasive Lancefield group A streptococcal infections in the Netherlands]. / Invasieve infecties met streptokokken uit lancefield-groep A in Nederland.

After a steady decrease in morbidity and mortality resulting from severe group A streptococcal (GAS) infections, the 1980s witnessed a resurgence of invasive GAS disease. As a result a nationwide laboratory-based surveillance for invasive GAS infections was conducted at the National Institute of Public Health (RIVM) from 1994 to 2003. The estimated annual incidence ranged from 2.0 to 4.0 cases per 100,000 individuals per year. The case-fatality rate was 18% overall but varied substantially depending on the manifestation of the disease. GAS infections may be complicated by toxic shock-like syndrome (TSS) which is caused by bacterial exotoxins. Case fatality among TSS cases was 59%. The M-protein that extends from the cell membrane is used for sub-typing GAS in > 150 different M-types. Increased intrinsic virulence has been reported in Streptococcus pyogenes of certain M-types, notably M1 and M3. In the Netherlands these M-types have been independently associated with fatality. Over the last 50 years the genome of these M-types appears to have become enriched with phage-encoded virulence factors, possibly contributing to the altered epidemiology of invasive GAS disease. Despite this genetic plasticity, GAS have remained uniformly susceptible to penicillin. In-vitro studies have shown that the administration of immunoglobulin G can have a neutralising effect in cases ofTSS but clinical studies have failed to provide any statistical support for this.

Bordetella pertussis and mixed infections.

AIM: In pertussis-like respiratory infections, once pertussis has been laboratory confirmed, other potential causative pathogens will seldom be looked for. Probably most mixed infections are found accidentally and since these mixed infections might cause a more severe disease we performed a retrospective study of their incidence. METHODS: We selected from 2 groups of patients with serologically confirmed Bordetella (B.) pertussis infection those in whom serology for other respiratory pathogens had also been performed. Group 1 consisted of 50 pertussis patients with 51 episodes of B. pertussis infection selected from 100 patients with serologically confirmed pertussis. They participated in a long-term follow-up after a B. pertussis infection. In group 2, 31 pertussis patients were selected from 98 consecutive patients with positive pertussis serology from one routine practice. RESULTS: In 23 of 82 pertussis infections (28%) serological evidence of 1 (n = 21) or 2 (n = 2) additional infections were demonstrated. These involved para-influenza virus (n = 6), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (n = 6), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (n = 5), adenovirus (n = 4), influenza A virus (n = 3) and influenza B virus (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that in patients with B. pertussis infection, coinfection with another respiratory pathogen is often present.

Estimation of minimum infection rates with Legionella pneumophila in an exposed population.

The distribution of antibody levels to Legionella (L.) pneumophila (serotypes 1-7) was compared between subjects who worked near the source of a large outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (n=668) and a population sample of comparable age (n=480). In a previous analysis of these data, it was estimated that 80% of those working near the source were infected with L. pneumophila. However, the estimation procedure implicitly assumes that the probability of infection does not depend on the antibody level of a person before exposure. This is questionable, as antibodies could protect against infection. We have now estimated the minimum value consistent with the data on the number of infected persons. We observed that a minimum of 40% [95% confidence interval (CI) 32-48] of those working near the source and 13% (95% CI 8-18) of those working further away were infected with L. pneumophila. Implications of these findings for design options in future research are discussed.

Community-acquired pathogens associated with prolonged coughing in children: a prospective cohort study.

A 2-year prospective study was performed of children with prolonged coughing to investigate the frequency of different respiratory pathogens, the rate of mixed infections, and possible differences in severity of disease between single and mixed infections. Sera from 135 children (136 episodes of prolonged coughing lasting 1-6 weeks) were tested for antibodies to different viruses and bacteria. Swabs were taken for culture and PCR to detect different viral and bacterial pathogens. One or more pathogens were found in 91 (67%) patients. One infectious agent was found in 49 (36%) patients, two agents in 35 (26%) patients, and more than two agents in seven (5%) patients. The most frequent pathogens encountered were rhinovirus (n = 43; 32%), Bordetella pertussis (n = 23; 17%) and respiratory syncytial virus (n = 15; 11%). The most frequent mixed infection was B. pertussis and rhinovirus (n = 14; 10%). No significant differences in clinical symptoms were observed between patients with or without pathogens; however, patients with mixed infections were significantly older. There was a strong seasonal influence on the number of infections, but not on the number of mixed infections. In children with prolonged coughing, there was a high frequency of mixed infections regardless of the season. However, mixed infection was not associated with increased disease severity. No clinical symptoms were found that allowed discrimination between specific pathogens.

Age-specific long-term course of IgG antibodies to pertussis toxin after symptomatic infection with Bordetella pertussis.

To investigate the possible dependence on age of the rate of decline of IgG antibodies to pertussis toxin (IgG-PT) after natural infection with Bordetella pertussis we measured IgG-PT in follow-up sera of 121 patients (age 0-94 years) obtained after 123 episodes of B. pertussis infection. For analysis we applied a dynamic model for the inactivation of B. pertussis by the immune system. There were no significant differences in rise, peak and decline of IgG-PT between different age groups, although there was a tendency for a more rapid increase, a higher peak and a faster decline with increasing age. The IgG-PT cut-off of 100 U/ml for serodiagnosis of pertussis appeared valid in all age groups. A decline of IgG-PT to < 10 U/ml was associated with increased risk of re-infection with B. pertussis.

Epidemiological considerations following long-term surveillance of invasive group A streptococcal disease in The Netherlands, 1992-2003.

A nationwide laboratory-based surveillance system for invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) infections was conducted in The Netherlands from March 1992 until December 2003. Until 1996, all isolates submitted were evaluated clinically and demographically. During this period there was a transition from passive to active surveillance for some of the participating laboratories, corresponding to a national coverage of 50%. During active surveillance, participating laboratories submitted twice as many isolates from invasive GAS disease, whereas the relative submission of isolates representing very severe manifestations (toxic shock-like syndrome, fatality) did not increase. From 1997 onwards, invasiveness was defined solely on the basis of source of isolation (without clinical evaluation). During the period of microbiological and clinical evaluation, microbiological evaluation alone was found to be specific (> 99%), but had limited sensitivity (66%). Estimation of the true rate of invasive GAS disease should be based on an active surveillance system with inclusion of both microbiological and clinical data.

[Effect of vaccination against pertussis on the incidence of pertussis in The Netherlands, 1996-2003]. / Effect van vaccinatie tegen kinkhoest op de incidentie van kinkhoest in Nederland, 1996-2003.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether booster vaccination of 4-year-old children with an acellular pertussis vaccine, which has been included in the national vaccination programme since October 2001, has decreased the incidence of pertussis. DESIGN: Descriptive. METHODS: Surveillance data were studied: mandatory notifications to the Health Inspectorate and reports of hospital admissions from the National Medical Register. RESULTS: During the past 7 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of pertussis every 2-3 years (1996, 1999, 2001). Moreover, the annual incidence in 1996-2003 was higher than in 1989-1995. As in previous years, the yearly peak incidence for hospital admissions due to pertussis was observed among nurslings, especially those younger than 3 months of age. In 2002 compared to 2000, the incidence among 3-4-year-olds on the basis of notifications and hospitalisations was 45% and 62% lower, respectively, very likely due to the booster vaccination for 4-year-olds introduced in 2001. The greatest decrease in the incidence was also observed among the 4-year-olds in 2003. CONCLUSION: Pertussis is still endemic in The Netherlands with a higher incidence than before the epidemic of 1996-1997. Severe disease often occurs, especially among unvaccinated children < 1 year of age. From January 2005 onwards, the vaccinations in the first year of life have been given with an acellular pertussis vaccine. However, since such infants are too young to be protected by vaccination alone, more information is needed on the most important sources of infection of nurslings in The Netherlands.

Long-term surveillance of invasive group A streptococcal disease in The Netherlands, 1994-2003.

A nationwide laboratory-based surveillance study of invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) infections was conducted in The Netherlands from May 1994 until December 2003 (average population during this period was 15 729 704). Microbiologically invasive isolates were obtained from 1504 patients, with most (70%) isolates cultured from blood. There was a clear seasonal pattern in invasive streptococcal infections, with an estimated annual incidence that peaked in 1996 (4.0 cases/100 000 individuals/year) and was at its lowest in 1999 (2.0 cases/100 000 individuals/year). Twenty-eight different M-types were identified, of which the most frequent were M1 (339/1504, 23%), M3 (187/1504, 12%), M89 (174/1504, 12%), M28 (164/1504, 11%), M12 (109/1504, 7%) and M6 (55/1504, 4%). There was a high degree of variation in the relative annual contributions of the predominant M-types, but variations in M1 and M3 combined correlated with overall changes in the annual incidence. The contribution of the patient group aged > or = 56 years to all cases of invasive GAS disease increased during the study period, whereas that of the group aged 0-20 years decreased. A peak in the incidence of invasive GAS disease among the patient group aged 30-34 years did not vary during the study period, indicating that the high incidence of invasive GAS disease in this age group was age-specific rather than cohort-related.

Laboratory-confirmed reinfections with Bordetella pertussis.

UNLABELLED: Susceptibility to infection with Bordetella pertussis re-emerges several years after pertussis vaccination. However, the duration of immunity after natural infection with B. pertussis, postulated to be lifelong, is not known. In an ongoing study, the longitudinal course of pertussis antibodies in patients who have had laboratory-confirmed pertussis is being followed using sera obtained at irregular intervals. In 4 patients a reinfection with Bordetella pertussis is described respectively 7 (patient A), 12 (patients B and C) and 3.5 (patient D) y after the first infection. It seems that the longer the interval between the infections the more severe the complaints. CONCLUSION: To the authors' knowledge. these are the first patients in whom symptomatic reinfection with B. pertussis has definitely been proven by laboratory confirmation of both episodes. Bordetella pertussis infection should be considered in patients with symptoms of typical or atypical whooping cough, irrespective of their vaccination status or previous whooping cough.

Kinetics of the IgG antibody response to pertussis toxin after infection with B. pertussis.

We aimed to provide a quantitative description of decay in pertussis antibody levels to aid in finding a serological estimate of the incidence of pertussis. The serum IgG response against pertussis toxin was studied in a group of clinically diagnosed patients. Individual records consisted of repeated serum IgG measurements at irregular intervals for up to 10 years post diagnosis. These data were analysed with a nonlinear regression model taking into account censoring at upper and lower threshold levels, measurement errors, and individual variation in the shape and magnitude of the immune response. There was considerable variation between individual responses, both in strength (amplitude) and duration (shape). The inverse model relating IgG levels to time from infection (diagnosis) can be applied to cross-sectional IgG data to generate distributions of times from infection, which may be used to calculate infection rates and their variation, in populations sampled for cross-sectional IgG data.