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Large differences between test strategies for the detection of anti-Borrelia antibodies are revealed by comparing eight ELISAs and five immunoblots

Overview of attention for article published in European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, January 2011
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#43 of 2,981)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (97th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (94th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
policy
3 policy sources
twitter
14 X users
patent
2 patents
facebook
8 Facebook pages

Citations

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70 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
82 Mendeley
Title
Large differences between test strategies for the detection of anti-Borrelia antibodies are revealed by comparing eight ELISAs and five immunoblots
Published in
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, January 2011
DOI 10.1007/s10096-011-1157-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

C. W. Ang, D. W. Notermans, M. Hommes, A. M. Simoons-Smit, T. Herremans

Abstract

We investigated the influence of assay choice on the results in a two-tier testing algorithm for the detection of anti-Borrelia antibodies. Eighty-nine serum samples from clinically well-defined patients were tested in eight different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) systems based on whole-cell antigens, whole-cell antigens supplemented with VlsE and assays using exclusively recombinant proteins. A subset of samples was tested in five immunoblots: one whole-cell blot, one whole-cell blot supplemented with VlsE and three recombinant blots. The number of IgM- and/or IgG-positive ELISA results in the group of patients suspected of Borrelia infection ranged from 34 to 59%. The percentage of positives in cross-reactivity controls ranged from 0 to 38%. Comparison of immunoblots yielded large differences in inter-test agreement and showed, at best, a moderate agreement between tests. Remarkably, some immunoblots gave positive results in samples that had been tested negative by all eight ELISAs. The percentage of positive blots following a positive ELISA result depended heavily on the choice of ELISA-immunoblot combination. We conclude that the assays used to detect anti-Borrelia antibodies have widely divergent sensitivity and specificity. The choice of ELISA-immunoblot combination severely influences the number of positive results, making the exchange of test results between laboratories with different methodologies hazardous.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 14 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 82 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Portugal 1 1%
Germany 1 1%
Norway 1 1%
United Kingdom 1 1%
Denmark 1 1%
Russia 1 1%
United States 1 1%
Unknown 75 91%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 20 24%
Student > Master 12 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 12%
Student > Bachelor 8 10%
Professor 7 9%
Other 16 20%
Unknown 9 11%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 31 38%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 11 13%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 7%
Immunology and Microbiology 6 7%
Nursing and Health Professions 3 4%
Other 9 11%
Unknown 16 20%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 38. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 November 2020.
All research outputs
#1,049,568
of 25,182,110 outputs
Outputs from European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
#43
of 2,981 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5,158
of 195,845 outputs
Outputs of similar age from European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
#2
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,182,110 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,981 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 195,845 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.