QualiCodeTM Equine Lyme Disease Kit
Cambridge, MA, June 1997 -- Immunetics, Inc. is announcing the release of the QualiCode Equine Lyme Disease Kit. Horses become infected with the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, through the bite of an Ixodes tick. Upon infection, horses can develop a wide array of symptoms; limb or joint disorders, fever, lethargy, and anorexia can accompany panuveitis, lymphadenopathy, and encephalitis. Serologic and clinical evidence of Lyme disease, has been reported in horses and ponies in New England and several other states including, New York, Wisconsin, and Texas. The QualiCode Equine Lyme Disease Kit comes in two formats to detect either IgG or IgM antibodies to B. burgdorferi antigens present on the kit’s membrane.
The QualiCode methodology is a qualitative assay which has the sensitivity and specificity of a confirmatory test. To ensure complete utilization of its components, the QualiCode kit is designed to accommodate a variety of batch sizes (from 1 to 24 samples). Included in the kit are: 24 UPC test strips, all necessary reagents and controls to perform the immunoassay, and three 8-channel incubation trays. This assay can be performed in less than 1.5 hours and eliminates the need for costly repetitive testing by different methodologies.
The QualiCode Assay consists of three simple steps. Equine serum or plasma is diluted in sample buffer and added to the UPC test strip containing bands of specific proteins from B. burgdorferi. Specific antibody in the sample binds to these proteins. Enzyme-tagged antibody is then added and will bind to the antibody/protein complex. Added substrate reacts with the bound enzyme and the antibody/protein complexes appear as colored bands. The band pattern, like a bar code, is unique to a specific infectious organism. The UPC test strip can then be compared to the positive Reference Strip included with every kit for band identification. Positive and negative control sera, and a data record sheet are also provided with each kit to simplify interpretation and documentation of the results.