Patent ID: 7629295

Claim:
A method for detection of an antibody against a pathogenic organism in a liquid sample, wherein said pathogenic organism is selected from the group consisting of bacteria, virus and protozoan, the method comprising a) incubating (1) said liquid sample, (2) a solid phase, (3) a first antigen for said antibody, wherein the first antigen comprises multiple epitope regions, said epitope regions being identical in amino acid sequence and (4) a second antigen for said antibody, wherein the second antigen binds to the solid phase, under conditions to obtain a complex comprising a solid phase-bound second antigen to which is bound the antibody and to which is bound the first antigen; and b) detecting said antibody by direct or indirect detection of the complex on said solid phase, wherein said antibody is directed against said pathogenic organism; and wherein said first antigen is of formula (Ia) or (Ib) (P—) n T(—L) n , (Ia) T(—P—L m ) n (Ib) wherein T is a carrier, P is a peptide comprising an epitope region wherein said epitope region is reactive with the antibody, L is the marker group in said first antigen, is a covalent coupling, n is 2-40 and m is 1-10.