Patent ID: 7718375

Claim:
A method for detecting a symptomatic Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in a human subject of age 12 years or less comprising: applying, to a sample receiving zone at an end of a bibulous test strip, a urine sample obtained from the human subject of age 12 years or less; allowing the urine sample to flow laterally along the bibulous test strip; mobilizing tagged purified antibodies capable of binding the C-polysaccharide antigen of Streptococcus pneumoniae , the tagged purified antibodies having been present immediately ahead of the sample receiving zone on the bibulous test strip and rendered flowable by contact with the urine sample, to form a mixture comprising the urine sample and the mobilized tagged purified antibodies; allowing the binding of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen, to form conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen in the mixture; allowing the mixture comprising the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen to flow further along the bibulous test strip; allowing the binding of the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen to scrub line antibodies specific for the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen, the scrub line antibodies having been immobilized in at least one scrub line along the bibulous test strip; allowing the mixture comprising the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen to flow downstream of the at least one scrub line; and allowing the binding of capture line antibodies specific for the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen, the capture line antibodies having been immobilized in a capture line downstream of the at least one scrub line, to the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen, wherein color formation in the downstream capture line resulting from the binding of the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen to the immobilized capture line antibodies specific for the conjugates of the tagged purified antibodies and the C-polysaccharide antigen is indicative of the symptomatic Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in the subject.