Serological attraction of nontoxic egg component to staphylococcal anti-enterotoxin.

摘要

Raw whole liquid and dried eggs which were purported to contain staphylococcal enterotoxin were analyzed by a number of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based methods. The initial evaluation was to establish whether the purported positive ELISA reactions were a result of toxin-anti-enterotoxin serological activity. A secondary consideration was to determine whether the putative protein occurred in the yolk and/or white portions of the eggs. A manual polyvalent detection system, manual monovalent ELISA and an automated polyvalent enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay were used to investigate this component in eggs. The ELISA results were instantaneous and showed strong positive reactions (false positives) with the manual and automated polyvalent systems, suggesting nonspecific binding of the egg-reactive component to one or more staphylococcal enterotoxin antibodies. Further analysis with the monovalent ELISA showed false-positive reactions when egg extracts were tested separately for enterotoxins A-E. The putative protein from fertilized eggs had caused false-positive reactions and the eggs did not contain preformed staphylococcal enterotoxin.