Patent ID: 7258992

Claim:
A method of detecting Streptococcus antibodies in a biological sample, comprising: (a) reacting said biological sample with a multiple epitope fusion polypeptide comprising more than one Streptococcus GapC epitope from more than one Streptococcus species, under conditions which allow said Streptococcus antibodies, when present in the biological sample, to bind to said sequence to form an antibody/antigen complex, wherein said fusion protein comprises epitopes that correspond to: (i) the amino acid sequences shown at amino acid positions 62 to 81, inclusive, of SEQ ID NOS: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; (ii) the amino acid sequences shown at about amino acid positions 102 to 112, inclusive, of SEQ ID NOS: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; (iii) the amino acid sequences shown at about amino acid positions 165 to 172, inclusive, of SEQ ID NOS: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; (iv) the amino acid sequences shown at about amino acid positions 248 to 271, inclusive, of SEQ ID NOS: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; and (v) the amino acid sequences shown at about amino acid positions 286 to 305, inclusive, of SEQ ID NOS: 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20; and (b) detecting the presence or absence of said complex, and thereby detecting the presence or absence of Streptococcus antibodies in said sample.