Rapid identification and quantitation of small numbers of microorganisms by a chemiluminescent immunoreaction.

A method (patent pending) for rapidly identifying and quantitating small numbers of microorganisms was developed based on the specific immunoreaction of microorganisms with homologous antibodies linked by conjugation to peroxidase. The high sensitivity of the method is due to the use of a chemiluminescent reaction for the determination of the enzyme. The reaction was performed on Alcar supports with low nonspecific adsorption. The very low noise achieved permitted the detection of as few as 30 to 300 bacterial cells.