Ricin toxin diagnosis

The detection of ricin to confirm exposure is difficult, not least because the toxin is metabolized and eliminated rapidly. The most commonly used method is the enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) which can be applied to environmental and biological samples and allows ricin detection for up to 48 h after exposure with a detection limit of approximately 200 pg/ml (Griffiths et al, 1986 Leith et al, 1988). More recently, an ELISA that uses monoclonal antibodies with distinct specificities for ricin A and B chains has been developed (Shyu et al, 2002a) which offers high specificity but is too slow to be useful for rapid diagnosis. The same group has now developed a sensitive and rapid... 

The diagnosis of ricin toxicosis is often based on clinical symptoms. Detection of the toxin in serum or respiratory secretimis can be done by ELISA and immu-nohistochemistry on infected tissues. Ricin is very immunogenic, thus the toxin can be detected via serology. 

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