Diagnosis of invasive pneumococcal infection by serotype-specific urinary antigen detection.

Widespread use of conjugate pneumococcal polysaccharide-protein vaccines may alter the spectrum of pneumococci producing invasive disease. Novel sensitive diagnostic methods would be valuable for monitoring the epidemiology of pneumococcal disease within populations and vaccine recipients. Ideally, these methods should allow determination of the serotype of the infecting clone. Serotype-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for 13 capsular polysaccharides (types 1, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, 7A, 9 V, 14, 18C, 19 A, 19F, and 23 F) were developed. Experiments with pure capsular polysaccharide demonstrated that the assays were sensitive (0.01 to 1.0 ng/ml) and specific. These assays were used to detect capsular polysaccharide in urine from 263 adult patients with proven (blood culture-positive) invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia of unknown etiology and from patients with positive blood cultures yielding bacteria other than pneumococci (control group). Among 76 patients with invasive pneumococcal disease from whom blood culture isolates had been serotyped, 62 (82%) had infections with pneumococci of serotypes represented in the ELISA panel. Capsular antigen matching the serotype of the blood culture isolate was detected in the urine of 52 of these patients, giving a sensitivity of 83.9% for the target serotypes. The tests were significantly more sensitive for urine from patients with pneumococcal pneumonia (89.8%) than for urine from patients with non-pneumonic invasive infection (61.5%; P<0.05). Data from the control group indicated a specificity of 98.8%. These assays should prove valuable in epidemiological investigation of invasive pneumococcal infection in adults, particularly if combined with a sensitive C-polysaccharide detection assay to screen for positive samples.

Antibiotic treatment and the diagnosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae in lower respiratory tract infections in adults.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the possible influence of antibiotic treatment on the results of different diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective cohort of 159 unselected adult immunocompetent patients admitted to Silkeborg County Hospital in Denmark with community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections underwent microbiological investigations with fiber-optic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage, blood and sputum culture and urine antigen test for type-specific polysaccharide capsular antigens of S. pneumoniae. RESULTS: When stratified for antibiotic treatment prior to microbiological sampling, three different groups of patients with documented or probable infection with S. pneumoniae could be identified. The first group comprised 14 patients who were culture positive in one or more culture tests, where most (11/14) did not receive any antibiotic treatment within 24 hours of sampling. The second group consisted of nine patients with a positive urine antigen test where 8/9 and 9/9 received antibiotic treatment 24 and 48 hours, respectively, prior to urine sampling. Only a single patient was positive in both systems, making a total of 22 patients with documented pneumococcal infection. As a positive culture test was dependent on the absence of antibiotic treatment, whereas a positive urine antigen test depended on antibiotic treatment within 48 hours, the two tests were complementary in the diagnosis of infection with S. pneumoniae. The third group of patients with probable pneumococcal infection were identified as 26% and 20% of the remaining 137 patients with unknown or known non-pneumococcal etiology, respectively, who received recent antibiotic treatment within 2-4 weeks of diagnostic sampling. By comparison, 0% (p < 0.01) with documented pneumococcal infection received antibiotic treatment in weeks 2-4 prior to microbiological sampling. As such a further eight patients should be expected to have infection with S. pneumoniae but would test negative in both culture tests and the urine antigen test because of antibiotic treatment within weeks 2-4 prior to sampling. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of infection with S. pneumoniae is very dependent on whether or not recent (within 2-4 weeks) or immediate (within 48 hours) antibiotic treatment has been given prior to microbiological sampling of patients. The results suggest an optimized diagnostic strategy with, if possible, sampling for culture prior to antibiotic treatment, while sampling for pneumococcal antigens should wait 24-48 hours for antibiotic treatment.

Evaluation of a standardized F1 capsular antigen capture ELISA test kit for the rapid diagnosis of plague.

Rapid detection of soluble F1 capsular antigen in serum, bubo fluid or urine of patients proved to be a valuable tool in the presumptive diagnosis of plague. We evaluated a F1 capsular antigen capture ELISA resembling a commercially available test kit. The minimal detectable concentration was 4 ng/ml. The specificity was 100% when investigating 47 sera from healthy Malagasy subjects and 98.4% when 365 sera from German blood donors were studied. Sensitivity was determined on sera (n=11) and buboes (n=18) from bacteriologically confirmed Malagasy plague patients. Sensitivity was 90.1% for serum and 100% for buboes. A standardized F1 capsular antigen capture ELISA test kit might be well suited for the early detection of plague particularly in non-endemic areas where clinical microbiological laboratories have only limited access to alternative techniques for rapid identification of Yersinia pestis.

Diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia in epidemiological studies: evaluation in Kenyan adults of a serotype-specific urine latex agglutination assay.

A serotype-specific tube latex agglutination assay for 10 pneumococcal serotypes was evaluated with use of urine samples from 72 Kenyan adults with pneumonia whose blood or lung aspirate cultures were positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae, 203 patients with pneumonia whose cultures were negative for S. pneumoniae, and 101 afebrile controls. Detection thresholds for purified capsular polysaccharide in normal urine ranged from 0.33 to 10 ng/mL. The sensitivity of the assay for the 10 pneumococcal serotypes was 0.57 (95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.70) and was unaffected by human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity, prior antibiotic use, and bacteremic or nonbacteremic status but varied significantly by serotype. Of the pneumococci obtained by culture, 81% were of serotypes (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 19, and 22) that were included in the antigen assay. Strong simultaneous agglutinations against two different serotypes were found in urine samples from two patients. The specificity of the assay was 0.98 (lower 95% confidence limit, 0.95). Subjective reading of agglutination results introduced variation in specificity that may be inapparent if not formally measured. The assay extended the diagnostic yield in pneumococcal pneumonia by a factor of 2.2 (from 54 diagnoses established by blood culture to 119 established by both methods) and may therefore prove useful in reducing the sample size of epidemiological studies of pneumococcal pneumonia in adults.

Safety and immunogenicity of PRP-T combined with DTP: excretion of capsular polysaccharide and antibody response in the immediate post-vaccination period.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether combining Haemophilus influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide covalently linked to tetanus toxoid (PRP-T) and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) in one syringe produced a vaccine that was safe and immunogenic. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. SETTING: Suburban New Orleans pediatric population. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 150 healthy infants. METHODS: Enrollees were randomized to receive DTP and PRP-T in one injection (Group 1), DTP and PRP-T separately (Group 2), or DTP and H influenzae type b capsular saccharide coupled to a nontoxic variant of diphtheria toxin, CRM197 (HbOC) separately (Group 3) at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. All infants received oral polio vaccine at 2 and 4 months of age. Parents were instructed to record side effects on a standardized form after each vaccine administration. Blood was drawn before each immunization and at 7 months of age; an additional blood and a urine specimen was obtained 2 to 3 days after one of the vaccination visits. Serum was assayed for H influenzae anticapsular antibody (anti-PRP), anti-pertussis toxoid, anti-fimbrial hemagglutinins, anti-diphtheria and anti-tetanus toxoid antibodies, and antibody to polio viruses. Urine was assayed for H influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide. RESULTS: The rate of occurrence of fever did not differ significantly between groups. Local swelling and erythema occurred more often at the administration site in Group 1 infants than at the DTP administration sites of infants in Groups 2 and 3 after the first and second vaccinations. The mean concentration of all antibodies we assayed did not differ significantly when Group 1 and 2 infants were compared. HbOC recipients (Group 3) had lower mean anti-H influenzae anticapsular antibody and higher mean anti-diphtheria and anti-tetanus antibody concentrations after two and three doses compared with Group 1 and Group 2 infants. No group had a significant change in mean anti-PRP antibody concentration 2 to 3 days after vaccination with any dose. After vaccination, antigenuria occurred less frequently in Group 1 infants (54%, 78%, and 72% in Groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively, P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Combining PRP-T and DTP produced a combination vaccine associated with a slight increase in the rate of erythema and swelling but with similar immunogenicity of the vaccine components and oral polio vaccine.