Yersinia Yop-specific IgA antibodies in Hungarian blood donors

Sera of 112 healthy Hungarian blood donors were tested for the presence of Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis-specific agglutinins by tube agglutination, and for that of yersinia outer membrane protein (Yop)-specific IgA antibodies by ELISA. The positive results of this latter assay were confirmed by immunoblot. Only one sample gave a positive agglutination reaction with Y. enterocolitica antigen (group O3) and four exhibited an equivocal reaction with Y. pseudotuberculosis antigens (groups II and IV). Contrary to the low incidence of agglutinins, 15.1 % of the samples showed a positive Yop-specific IgA reaction, while further 5.3 % samples fell into the equivocal range by ELISA (17 and 6 specimens, respectively). Eleven of these samples (9.8 % of all specimens tested) were also positive by immunoblot for the presence of Yop-specific IgA antibodies. These data suggest a higher incidence of yersinia infections than the 1.0-1.4 per 10⁵ population predicted on the basis of stool culture results.