ABSTRACT
From September 1995 to September 1998, sera from 959 suspected allergy patients have been tested by the new Pharmacia Cap System. Of these, 80 per cent were diagnosed to suffer from some allergy while 20 per cent reacted negative. It was found that the CAP system gave accurate and clear cut results to the satisfaction of the patient and referring physician.
Subject(s)
Humans , Hypersensitivity/diagnosis , Immunoglobulin E/analysis , Immunologic Techniques , Reagent Kits, Diagnostic , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
A total of 71 sera from 15 proved cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, 2 cases with doubtful radiological report and 54 suspected cases, contacts, donors etc. were subjected to Elisa IgG, IgM and IgA tests for tuberculosis, with a view to comparing the merits of IgA test with those of IgG and IgM. Kreatech IgA test which is claimed to indicate presence of active tuberculosis was positive in 13 of the proved cases and negative in both the doubtful cases. These preliminary results indicate that KREATECH IgA is a promising new ELISA test which can be a useful laboratory aid in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis, both pulmonary and extrapulmonary, for screening of suspected cases, and for monitoring cases undergoing therapy.
Subject(s)
Double-Blind Method , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods , Humans , Immunoglobulin A/blood , Mass Screening , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/bloodABSTRACT
The Elisa test for diagnosis of tuberculosis using highly purified A 60 antigen extracted from mycobacteria was developed by Anda Biologicals, France, during the late 1980s. It is claimed to have about 95% sensitivity and specificity. Both IgG and IgM antibodies can be separately tested. IgM antibodies appear early in the disease and IgG appear later. The test is negative in healthy, normal subjects and is not related to tuberculin test or BCG vaccination status. The A 60 antigen is common to many mycobacteria including M. tuberculosis, M. leprae, M. bovis, and M. avium. Hence, clinical, radiological and other laboratory data must be considered along with the results of Elisa test for final diagnosis. Tuberculosis is still the most important bacterial infection in India. Because of its high prevalence, normal subjects and proved tuberculosis patients were first surveyed to determine the cut off values for IgG and IgM antibodies among local population. Subsequently the test was offered in India for general use. This paper describes our experience of the test since 1990, on samples referred by various practitioners and laboratories in Bombay and other cities. Result on 5840 IgG tests and 2101 IgM tests shows that the A 60 Elisa test is well accepted and is a useful laboratory aid in the diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
Subject(s)
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/blood , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Sensitivity and Specificity , Tuberculosis/bloodABSTRACT
In order to find out the usefulness of this test in the local population, 240 subjects were investigated at Indira Gandhi Medical College, Nagpur. Of these 85 were normal healthy subjects and 40 were sputum AFB positive tuberculosis cases, enabling us to determine the cut-off value. The remaining 115 were suspected cases of pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In proved as well as suspected cases of tuberculosis, the mean optical density was much higher than among normal controls, which was statistically significant. Thus A-60 ELISA test is a useful diagnostic aid in suspected pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis.