ABSTRACT
Fourteen cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and paired blood samples were obtained from patients with tuberculous meningitis, seven with positive culture and seven clinical/laboratory diagnosis. Another 14 paired specimens served as control, including 7 infectious meningitis and 7 non-inflammatory neurological diseases. Four groups were thus classified, including confirmed and suspected patients, and controls with infectious meningitis and neurological diseases. Measurements of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) sonicate antigen and IgG antibody were performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Generally, CSF BCG sonicate antigen level and anti-BCG sonicate antibody of patients with tuberculosis meningitis were higher than in control groups; greater antigen levels were found in confirmed patients than in non-inflammatory subjects (p less than 0.05), and in suspected patients than in infectious and non-inflammatory subjects (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01). For serum anti-BCG sonicate levels, confirmed patients had higher antibody value than non-inflammatory subjects (p less than 0.05). To conclude, detection of high levels of both BCG sonicate antigen and antibody in CSF and blood samples shows great value in the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis. However, given the limited samples of the current research, more data are needed to elucidate the sensitivity and specificity of such tests.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/cerebrospinal fluid , Antigens, Bacterial/cerebrospinal fluid , Mycobacterium bovis/immunology , Tuberculosis, Meningeal/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Antibodies, Bacterial/blood , Antigens, Bacterial/blood , Child , Child, Preschool , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Predictive Value of Tests , Sonication , Tuberculosis, Meningeal/immunologyABSTRACT
Head-space gas-liquid chromatographic (HS-GLC) detection of acetoin in 223 blood cultures of gram-negative bacilli was compared with results obtained from the conventional identification method. Seventy-three out of 76 cultures of Klebsielleae, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxtytoca, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter agglomerans and Serratia marcescens, were identified by the acetoin detection method with HS-GLC. One hundred and forty-six out of 147 blood cultures of other gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic bacilli did not produce acetoin. The findings indicate that the HS-GLC technique is a useful method with high sensitivity and specificity for identification of bacteremia caused by Klebsielleae.
