Patent ID: 8663940

Claim:
A method of detection of bactericidal antibodies effective against a Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium of interest in a biological sample, the method comprising: combining in a reaction mixture: a biological sample suspected of containing bactericidal antibodies effective against a Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium of interest, wherein the biological sample is human serum or human plasma that is heated to inactivate endogenous complement; the Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium of interest, wherein the Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium is viable; and fresh human whole blood obtained from a non-immune human donor which does not contain detectable bactericidal antibodies effective against the Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium of interest, wherein the human from which the human serum or the human plasma was obtained is not the non-immune human donor, and wherein said fresh human whole blood contains an anticoagulant that does not significantly affect complement activation or complement activity; and detecting the presence or the absence of the bactericidal antibodies in said sample by assessing viability of said Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium, wherein decreased viability of said Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium in the presence of said biological sample indicates the sample contains the bactericidal antibodies.