Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples

Jason G. Ramage; Kristin W. Prentice; Lindsay Depalma; Kodumudi S. Venkateswaran; Sruti Chivukula; Carol Chapman; Melissa Bell; Shomik Datta; Ajay Singh; Alex Hoffmaster; Jawad Sarwar; Nishanth Parameswaran; Mrinmayi Joshi; Nagarajan Thirunavkkarasu; Viswanathan V Krishnan; Stephen Morse; Julie R. Avila; Shashi Sharma; Peter L. Estacio; Larry Stanker; David R. Hodge; Segaran P. Pillai

doi:10.1089/hs.2016.0041

Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples

Jason G. Ramage, Kristin W. Prentice, Lindsay Depalma, Kodumudi S. Venkateswaran, Sruti Chivukula, Carol Chapman, Melissa Bell, Shomik Datta, Ajay Singh, Alex Hoffmaster, Jawad Sarwar, Nishanth Parameswaran, Mrinmayi Joshi, Nagarajan Thirunavkkarasu, Viswanathan V Krishnan, Stephen Morse, Julie R. Avila, Shashi Sharma, Peter L. Estacio, Larry StankerDavid R. Hodge, Segaran P. Pillai

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of the Anthrax BioThreat Alert^® test strip, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) for the rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis spores. The study, conducted at 2 sites, evaluated this assay for the detection of spores from the Ames and Sterne strains of B. anthracis, as well as those from an additional 22 strains. Phylogenetic near neighbors, environmental background organisms, white powders, and environmental samples were also tested. The Anthrax LFA demonstrated a limit of detection of about 10⁶ spores/mL (ca. 1.5 × 10⁵ spores/assay). In this study, overall sensitivity of the LFA was 99.3%, and the specificity was 98.6%. The results indicated that the specificity, sensitivity, limit of detection, dynamic range, and repeatability of the assay support its use in the field for the purpose of qualitatively evaluating suspicious white powders and environmental samples for the presumptive presence of B. anthracis spores.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	351-365
Number of pages	15
Journal	Health security
Volume	14
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2016.0041
State	Published - Oct 1 2016
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)
Emergency Medicine
Safety Research
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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Ramage, J. G., Prentice, K. W., Depalma, L., Venkateswaran, K. S., Chivukula, S., Chapman, C., Bell, M., Datta, S., Singh, A., Hoffmaster, A., Sarwar, J., Parameswaran, N., Joshi, M., Thirunavkkarasu, N., Krishnan, V. V., Morse, S., Avila, J. R., Sharma, S., Estacio, P. L., ... Pillai, S. P. (2016). Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples. Health security, 14(5), 351-365. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2016.0041

Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples. / Ramage, Jason G.; Prentice, Kristin W.; Depalma, Lindsay; Venkateswaran, Kodumudi S.; Chivukula, Sruti; Chapman, Carol; Bell, Melissa; Datta, Shomik; Singh, Ajay; Hoffmaster, Alex; Sarwar, Jawad; Parameswaran, Nishanth; Joshi, Mrinmayi; Thirunavkkarasu, Nagarajan; Krishnan, Viswanathan V; Morse, Stephen; Avila, Julie R.; Sharma, Shashi; Estacio, Peter L.; Stanker, Larry; Hodge, David R.; Pillai, Segaran P.

In: Health security, Vol. 14, No. 5, 01.10.2016, p. 351-365.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Ramage, JG, Prentice, KW, Depalma, L, Venkateswaran, KS, Chivukula, S, Chapman, C, Bell, M, Datta, S, Singh, A, Hoffmaster, A, Sarwar, J, Parameswaran, N, Joshi, M, Thirunavkkarasu, N, Krishnan, VV, Morse, S, Avila, JR, Sharma, S, Estacio, PL, Stanker, L, Hodge, DR & Pillai, SP 2016, 'Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples', Health security, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 351-365. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2016.0041

Ramage, Jason G. ; Prentice, Kristin W. ; Depalma, Lindsay ; Venkateswaran, Kodumudi S. ; Chivukula, Sruti ; Chapman, Carol ; Bell, Melissa ; Datta, Shomik ; Singh, Ajay ; Hoffmaster, Alex ; Sarwar, Jawad ; Parameswaran, Nishanth ; Joshi, Mrinmayi ; Thirunavkkarasu, Nagarajan ; Krishnan, Viswanathan V ; Morse, Stephen ; Avila, Julie R. ; Sharma, Shashi ; Estacio, Peter L. ; Stanker, Larry ; Hodge, David R. ; Pillai, Segaran P. / Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples. In: Health security. 2016 ; Vol. 14, No. 5. pp. 351-365.

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abstract = "We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of the Anthrax BioThreat Alert{\textregistered} test strip, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) for the rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis spores. The study, conducted at 2 sites, evaluated this assay for the detection of spores from the Ames and Sterne strains of B. anthracis, as well as those from an additional 22 strains. Phylogenetic near neighbors, environmental background organisms, white powders, and environmental samples were also tested. The Anthrax LFA demonstrated a limit of detection of about 106 spores/mL (ca. 1.5 × 105 spores/assay). In this study, overall sensitivity of the LFA was 99.3%, and the specificity was 98.6%. The results indicated that the specificity, sensitivity, limit of detection, dynamic range, and repeatability of the assay support its use in the field for the purpose of qualitatively evaluating suspicious white powders and environmental samples for the presumptive presence of B. anthracis spores.",

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