The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of eight Blastomyces dermatitidis yeast phase lysate
antigens (T-58: dog, Tennessee; T-27: polar bear, Tennessee; ERC-2: dog, Wisconsin; B5894: human, Minnesota; SOIL: soil, Canada; B5896: human, Minnesota; 48089: human, Zaire; 48938: bat, India) in the detection of the
immunoglobulins IgG and
IgM in serum specimens from canines with
blastomycosis. An indirect
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA,
peroxidase system) was used to analyze sera collected during four different intervals post-
infection. The yeast lysate
antigen 48938 was a reactive
antigen for the detection of both
IgG (mean absorbance value range: 1.198-2.934) and
IgM (mean absorbance value range: 0.505-0.845). For the same
sera, antigen T-27 was also effective in the detection of
IgG (mean absorbance value range: 0.904-3.356) and
antigen 48089 was useful for the detection of
IgM (mean absorbance value range: 0.377-0.554). The yeast lysate
antigen B5894 proved to be a poor
antigen for the detection of both
IgG and
IgM (mean absorbance value ranges: 0.310-0.744 for
IgG, 0.025-0.069 for
IgM). Inherent variations in yeast lysate
antigens such as these may be utilized to develop improved immunoassay procedures for the specific detection of
IgG or
IgM in cases of
blastomycosis.