We describe the development and evaluation of a rapid diagnostic test for Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 based on lipopolysaccharide detection using gold particles. The specificity ranged between 84 and 100%. The sensitivity of the dipsticks ranged from 94.2 to 100% when evaluated with stool samples obtained in Madagascar and Bangladesh. The dipstick can provide a simple tool for epidemiological surveys.Vibrio cholerae strains belonging to the O1 and O139 serogroups are capable of causing epidemic and pandemic cholera. The O1 serogroup is subdivided into two serotypes, Ogawa and Inaba. Serogroup O139, which appeared in India in 1992, has spread rapidly throughout Asian countries and is considered to be the potential eighth pandemic strain of cholera. Prompt diagnosis of cholera is of key importance to initiate effective therapy and to institute proper epidemiological measures. There are definitive indications that the incidence of this serogroup is on the rise in India and Bangladesh (17).Several rapid diagnostic tests for cholera have been described. Some detect the cholera toxin (2, 19). The others detect the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen of V. cholerae O1 (3, 6, 8, 12, 16) or O139 (1, 10, 14). Recently, a multistep colloidalgold-based colorimetric immunoassay known as SMART was also developed for direct detection of V. cholerae O1 (9, 11) or V. cholerae O139 (15) in stool specimens and has demonstrated 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity for O1 strains (11) and 100% sensitivity and 97% specificity for O139 strains (15).In our effort to develop a conjugate vaccine that targets V. cholerae O1 and O139, we have developed monoclonal antibodies specific to V. cholerae O1 or O139 LPS (4, 5). Here we have exploited the specificity of the monoclonal antibodies to develop rapid diagnostic tests for cholera O1 or O139 using colloidal gold particles and based on a recently optimized (7) one-step, vertical-flow immunochromatography principle (13). The detection threshold with purified LPS was 10 ng/ml for V. cholerae O1 and 50 ng/ml for V. cholerae O139. The dipsticks were stable after storage for 21 days at 60, 4, Ϫ20, and Ϫ80°C.We have evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the rapid dipstick tests in the laboratory setting and in two areas of cholera endemicity, namely, in Madagascar and in Bangladesh. The specificity was assessed using 14 pure cultures of V. cholerae non-O1/non-O139 and 16 strains belonging to six other species of the genus Vibrio (V. alginolyticus, V. fluvialis, V. parahaemolyticus, V. furnissii, V. hollisae, and V. mimicus), seven strains of Aeromonas species (A. caviae, A. enteropelogenes, A. hydrophila, A. sobria, and A. trota), two strains of Plesiomonas shigelloides, and two strains of Campylobacter jejuni. Additionally, eight strains of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, 10 strains of Yersinia enterocolitica, 35 other strains of Yersinia belonging to seven species, and another 47 strains belonging to 11 other genera of Enterobacteriaceae were included. The specificity of both dipsticks was ...