Evaluation of seven commercially available ELISA kits for serodiagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis.

Seven Toxoplasma gondii IgM antibody detection kits commercially available in the Indian markets were evaluated for their sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and cost-effectiveness on 140 serum samples (80 sera were positive and 60 negative). Modified direct agglutination test was used as standard. The principals of seven anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM antibody detection kits were Organon-Teknika (Holland), Eurogenetics (Belgium), Labo Biomedical (Netherlands), Gamma-sa (Belgium), Viro-Immun Labor Diagnostika (Germany), Diamedix (USA) and Melotech (Spain). Of the seven kits, the first 4 were based on mu-capture principle. Organon-Teknika IgM ELISA kit was found to be most accurate, cost-effective and presentable, while Melotech and Viro-immun IgM kits were found unacceptable for clinical diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.