Abstract: Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IELISA) for human Brucella infection. Methods: A total of 116 patients with confirmed Brucella infection were enrolled, and 66 suspected cases and 72 healthy subjects were served as controls. Venous blood was collected to detect Brucella antibody by standard tube agglutination test (SAT), IELISA, Rose-Bengal plate agglutination test（RBPT) and blood culture was performed for isolation of Brucella bacteria. Result of SAT test was taken as the golden standard, and the diagnostic value of IELISA, RBPT and blood culture were analyzed. Result: Positive rates of SAT, IELISA, RBPT and blood culture in confirmed acute (100%, 98.6%, 91.3%, 20.3%) and chronic Brucella infection patients (100%, 97.9%, 91.5%, 10.6%) were significantly higher than those in suspected patients (0, 6.0%, 0, 0, all P<0.05) and healthy controls (1.4%, 0, 2.8%, all P<0.01; blood culture not done). The IELISA was in good agreement with SAT and RBPT (Kappa=0.846, 0.966). The sensitivity (98.3%) and specificity (100%) of IELISA were the highest . Sensitivity and specificity of RBPT were 91.4% and 97.2%, respectively. Conclusions: Compared with RBPT and blood culture, IELISA has a better diagnostic accuracy for Brucella infection, and is more convenient and rapid.

Key words: Serum agglutination test, Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Rose-Bengal plate agglutination test, Brucella