Screening for Chlamydial infection in women attending STD clinic by polymerase chain reaction, ELISA and cell cytology.

Thirty five female patients with endocervicitis attending STD clinic were studied for the presence of Chlamydial infection by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and Cell Cytology. PCR was found to be positive in 54.2% of patients, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) in 25.7% of patients, but cell cytology revealed the presence of inclusion bodies only in 3% of the cases, thereby showing that polymerase chain reaction is a better method for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis than EIA and cell cytology.

HTLV-I in HIV seropositive Indian blood donors.

One hundred HIV seropositive blood donors were screened for the presence of antibodies to HTLV-I by passive agglutination test from 1994 to 1996. Thirty two percent of the HIV-I seropositive blood donors were found to be positive for HTLV-I (Titre 1:16). Only Six percent of the HIV-seronegative donors were found to be positive for HTLV-I indicating thereby that it should be mandatory to screen all the blood samples for transfusion for HTLV-I antibodies also.

Streptococcal throat carriage in school children with special reference to seasonal incidence.

A number of studies on throat carriage of beta hemolytic streptococci (BHS) carried out during the years 1972-90 in urban and rural school children from low socioeconomic groups in the age group of 5-15 years in and around Delhi showed an overall carriage rate of BHS varying from 12.2%-64.3% depending upon the season and number of swabs taken. Group A was found to be the most predominant serological group (31.1%-62.6%). The T-typability was found to be 98.2%. The most prevalent T-patterns observed during 1972-78 study were 3/13/B3264 followed by 5/11/12/27/44. A significant difference was observed in the prevalence of T-patterns during the study of 2,034 children from 1979-83 and 3,094 children from 1984-90. When the most prevalent T-patterns were found to be 5/11/12/27/44 followed by 3/13/B3264. The study of the school children from 1972-90 showed the isolation of BHS as well as significant predominance of GAS (p < 0.001) in winter months than summer months. There was no difference in the distribution of carriage of BHS and GAS amongst rural or urban school children. Since RF/RHD are illnesses which were often encountered in school children among socially and economically disadvantaged populations stronger support for streptococcal surveillance programs should be encouraged.

Comparison of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and indirect haemagglutination test in serologic diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.

The antibody response against Toxoplasma gondii was evaluated by ELISA and indirect haemagglutination test (IHA) in 100 antenatal cases with bad obstetric history. 30 per cent of the cases were found to be positive by the IgM ELISA test and 22 per cent were positive by the IHA test. ELISA was found to be a more specific, reliable and easy test for screening of antenatal cases.