Use of protein-specific monoclonal antibody-based latex agglutination for rapid diagnosis of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection in patients with community-acquired septicemia.

A latex agglutination test employing monoclonal antibody specific to a 30-kDa protein of Burkholderia pseudomallei was used to detect the organisms in blood culture specimens from 1,139 patients with community-acquired septicemia. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the test were 96.75%, 99.61%, 96.75%, and 99.61%, respectively.