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eleks gel ppt test a strip of filter paper is soaked in an antitoxin and placed on a
serum agar plate. Test culture with diphtheria bacilli is streaked at right angle to
long axis of filter paper. After incubation at 37 c for 48 hr there will be precipitation
of toxin along the strekes.
Elek's test, also known as the immuno diffusion technique, is an in vitro virulence test performed
uponCorynebacterium diphtheriae.[1] It is used to test for toxigenicity of C. diphtheriae.
It was characterized in 1949.[2] A filter paper strip impregnated with diphtheria antitoxin is buried just
beneath the surface of a special agar plate before the agar hardens. Strains to be tested, known
positive and negative toxigenic strains are streaked on the agar's surface in a line across the plate,
and at a right angle to the antitoxin paper strip. After 24 hours of incubation at 37 degrees celsius,
plates are examined with transmitted light for the presence of fine precipitin lines at a 45-degree
angle to the streaks. The presence of precipitin lines indicated that the strain produced toxin that
react with the antitoxin.
In Corynebacterium diphtheriae, toxin production occurs following infection of a normal flora bacterium
with a temperate phage that encodes the toxin - an example of lysogenic conversion. So, the lines marked
1 and 4 are bacteria that contain prophage DNA.
Schick test
It is a test demonstrating presence or absence of antitoxin immunity i.e presence or
absence of circulating antitoxin in the host. If toxin is injected intracutaneously to a
person with no antitoxin- there is local tissue damage and inflammation indicating
that the person is susceptible.
If toxin is injected to person with fairly god level of antitoxin- no rection will be there
due to neutralization of toxin by antitoxin indicating that the person is immune(-ve )