Sensitivity and specificity of Ouchterlony immunodiffusion test using mouse ascitic fluids raised against thermoprecipitate antigen (TAP) of an encapsulated strain and rabbit antisera raised anainst whole bacterial antigens of encapsulated and
uncapsulated strains of Bacillus anthracis and closely related Bacillus species mimicking B. anthracis (BMBA), Rho, 11R-1, S10A and 7451, which were isolated from patients and soil in Sindo island and Chooneseong-kun, where humans and animals
were
succumbed to acute anthrax-like diseses in 1988 were examined with TPAs of homologous and heterologous strains.
The mouse ascitic fludis raised against the TPA of an encapsulated strain (ATCC 14578) developed a converging precipitin line with all TPAs of B. anthracis and BMBA tested. Rabbit antiserum raised against whole bacterial antigen of the same
strain
also
developed a converging precipitin line not only with the TPAs of three strains of Bacillus anthracis but also with the TPA of one of the BMBA, Rho. Rabbit antiserum raised against whole bacterial antigen of Pasteur No. 2-Army var, however,
developed two
precipitin lines, one strain-specific precipitin line and the other species-specific one, which was identical with Sterne 34-F2 and partially identical with ATCC 14578, but was not reactive with the TPAs of BMBA at all. Rabbit antiserum against
whole
bacterial antigen of Sterne 34-F2 also developed two precipitin lines, one strain-specific and the other identical with Pasteur No. 2-Army var, but was not reactive with TPAs of ATCC 14578 of B. anthracis and three strains of BMBA.
This result indicates that the specific antigens for species identification and strain differentiation of B. anthracis is related to the cell wall antigens but not to the capsular antigens. And by means of Ouchterlony immunodiffusion test using
rabbit
antiserum raised against whole bacterial antigens of attenuated strain Pasteur No. 2-Army var, closely related Bacillus species isolated from patients and soil in Sindo island and Choonseong-kun could be differentiated from Bacillus anthracis.
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