Light Addressable Potentiometric Immunoassays for Identification of Biological Agents: NATO SIBCA Exercise I.

摘要

In March 1999, the NATO Subgroup on Sampling and Identification of Biological and Chemical Agents (SIBCA) conducted the first international training exercise on identification of biological agents. Eleven NATO national laboratories participated: Canada, Franco, Germany (two laboratories), Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, and United States. Participating laboratories were sent five sample unknowns, four of which contained biological agents and one blank containing buffer only. Participants were advised that biological agents could consist of any one of the following 10 gamma irradiated organisms: Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Vibrio cholerae, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus, Francisella tularensis, Brucella metitensis. Burkholderia mallei, Yellow Fever virus, Vaccinia virus, or Coxiella burnetii. The participating laboratory for Canada was the Defence Research Establishment Suffield (ORES). For the training exercise, ORES screened sample unknowns by two different antibody-based identification technologies, one of which was the Threshold(Trademark) assay. Threshold(Trademark) assays for seven of the 10 possible biological agents were developed: Bacillus anthracis, Brucella melitensis, Francisella tularensis, Burkholderia mallei, Yersinia pestis, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus, and Vaccinia virus and SIBCA samples were screened for these seven agents. Two agents, Bacillus anthracis and V. pestis were identified while the SIBCA sample containing Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus yielded a false negative. This latter result is consistent with results of the other NATO countries participating in the training exercise.