Development and evaluation of a latex agglutination test for the identification of Francisella tularensis subspecies pathogenic for human

Francisella tularensis are highly infectious bacteria causing a zoonotic disease called tularemia. Identification of this bacterium is based on antigen detection or PCR. The paper presents a latex agglutination test (LAT) for rapid identification of clinically relevant F. tularensis subspecies. The test can be performed within three minutes with live or inactivated bacteria. The possibility to test the inactivated samples reduces the risk of laboratory acquired infection and allows performing the test under BSL-2 conditions.