Characterization of antibody responses in legionellosis with an immunofluorometric assay.

A solid-phase immunofluorometric assay was used to qualitatively characterize and precisely measure human immunoglobulin class-specific antibody responses in legionellosis. Stable antigen preparations consisted of cells grown at 25 degrees C that were killed, fixed with Formalin vapors, washed, and lyophilized. Working-curve material consisted of dilutions of selected convalescent sera. Linear regressions of logit transformations of relative fluorescence intensities versus the logarithm of the relative concentrations of sera were determined to give immunoglobulin class-specific antibody levels from uninfected and infected individuals. Each fluorescence intensity obtained with immunoglobulin class-specific antibody was converted to a multiple of the median fluorescence intensity obtained with sera from uninfected individuals. A presumptive-positive acute-phase legionellosis serum was defined for each immunoglobulin class by a multiple of the normal median fluorescence intensity that was greater than the multiple of the normal median from approximately 97% of the uninfected population.