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PubMedDate not supplied

An audit of serological tests carried out at clinical laboratory of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad.

BACKGROUND: Clinical audit is an important tool for reviewing and improving the quality of service in clinical laboratories. Here we present an audit of total serology test requests and the frequency of positive tests out of these in a calendar year. METHODS: This is an audit of serology tests carried out at Microbiology section of Clinical Laboratory of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad. We counted all the serology test requests for the year 2004. These tests requests were grouped month wise. The frequency of positive tests out of the total test requests were calculated. The tests included Widal, Toxoplasma, Brucella, Anti DNA, Anti Nuclear factor (ANF), Rheumatoid Arthritis Factor (RAF), HIV, HBsAg, HCV, Intra Chromatographic Technique for tuberculosis (ICT-TB), Purified Protein Derivative (PPD), Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test, Anti-Streptolysin-O-test (ASOT) and pregnancy test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: This audit gives a clear idea of trends of test requests in our hospital. It reflects accuracy of clinicians' judgment in some tests and failure in others, prevalence of different diseases, seasonal variation in number of test requests for some tests and impact of awareness campaigns on attitude of clinicians towards certain diseases. This will help us in planning our laboratory requirements to improve quality.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Efficacy of stool antigen and serologic tests in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in Ecuadorian population].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness in the Ecuadorian population of 2 non-invasive methods for the detection of the Helicobacter pylori: the stool antigens immunoassay (HpSAg) and the determination IgG serum of'antibodies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty six dyspeptic patients were evaluated. In each, Helicobacter pylori presence was investigated with three methods: histology, HpSAg and serology. Sensibility and specificity values were obtained, as well as the positive and negative predictive values. RESULTS: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori with the 3 tests was 89.53%. The sensibility, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were: 42.5%, 69.2%, 88.6% and 17.6% with histology; 69.2%, 42.9%, 78.9% and 31% with HpSAg; 64.2%, 47.7%, 81.1% and 27.3% with serology. CONCLUSIONS: In the highly prevalent Ecuadorian setting, HpSAg and serology have relative low sensibility and specificity values. Based on our results, it is necessary to assess for conditions that could alter their results, and strategies to increase the sensibility of these tests, including the histology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Serological investigation in children infected with Ascaris lumbricoides.

The study included 260 hospitalised children with suspected infection with human ascaris. In serological diagnostics a protein antigen obtained from Ascaris lumbricoides was used. ELISA method was applied. IgG antibodies were detected. Positive results were found in 15% of the examined children. No relation to the gender or demographic conditions was found. The most frequently observed symptoms in the patients with Ascaris lumbricoides were: abdominal pain--87%, diarrhoea 15%. In 31% of the cases eosinophilia was found. Scatoscopy was carried out for all the patients, using the PARASEPT system and Kato and Miura methods as well as decantation and flotation. The examination, which was repeated three times, did not show cysts or eggs. Serological investigation exhibits higher sensitivity than the traditional methods. Their use in recognising ascariasis in humans significantly facilitates diagnostic procedures, especially in the lung phase of the disease, the larval stage or in cases of infection with an individual parasite, when the faeces samples do not contain the eggs. Serological investigation is also useful in all cases of suspected VLM.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Serologic diagnosis of chlamydial and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections].

The diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection can be based either on direct detection of the organism or its components or indirectly by measuring antibodies as markers of the individual's response to the infection. The latter is currently of limited value. Neither IgG or IgA antibodies can be used to diagnose current genital infection by Chlamydia trachomatis or to exclude such an infection. There is no solid ground as yet for the use of IgA antibodies as a marker of persistant or unresolved infection. Commercial tests in the Elisa format based on peptides from the MOMP of Chlamydia trachomatis are available and show good specificities and sensitivities. Hsp60 seems to have a unique role in the development of tubal scarring and antibodies to chsp60 could predict tubal factor infertility. Serology is the main diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. The serologic assays are the complement fixation test (CF), immunofluorescence, the microparticle agglutination and recently EIAs. The CF test is still used for serodiagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection because of the sensitivity of 90%. Single titer of >or= 64 are considered to be indicative of recent infection. A number of commercial EIAs have been developped. The difficulty for IgG interpretation is a definition of a cutoff value for discriminating infected and healthy subjects. Most of the IgM assays show good diagnostic sensitivities and are valuable tools for the early diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children. There are no wholly satisfactory serological methods for diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. Problems arise from the high background of IgG antibody prevalence, the lack of standardized testing methods.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

HLA class II epitope detection by serology.

The amino acid sequence for the Class II specificities on 70 homozygous cell lines was compared with the cytotoxic reactions produced by 13,000 allogenic antisera against these lines. Many of the cytotoxic reaction patterns correlated completely with unique amino acids at a given residue. Therefore, we inferred that the antibodies were reacting directly with these amino acid-defined residues. Among 131 variable DRB1 residues, several well-correlated antisera were found to 64 (49%). Among 94 DQB1 residues, antibodies were found to 59 (63%). The location of these serologically defined epitopes on the molecule is shown in the table. We conclude that much of the serologic reactions of Class II can be explained by reactivity to the amino acid-defined epitopes. It can be shown that many of the sera that were previously considered multispecific are directed against these epitopes. These serologically defined epitopes are clearly immunogenic and are probably important in transplant matching.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Prevention of perinatal HIV transmission: are there alternatives to pre-pregnancy serological screening in Kinshasa, Zaire?

Complete obstetrical and medical histories were obtained from 6312 women between the ages of 15 and 45 years who had undergone HIV serological tests. Individual factors were examined for sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of HIV infection. No individual risk factors for HIV infection were identified which had sensitivities greater than 60%. Combinations of factors were modelled by logistic regression. Only a model which included indicators of present illness with AIDS/HIV-related symptoms (i.e., chronic fever, diarrhea or profound weight loss) was predictive of HIV serostatus. These results suggest that identification of healthy women at high risk of HIV infection using non-serological information is not feasible. Thus, since the yearly cost of universal serological screening is prohibitively expensive in the Zairean context, HIV/AIDS education and prevention campaigns may in fact be a more cost-effective means of preventing perinatal transmission of HIV.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Dynamics of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in a rural area of Argentina. IV. Serologic, parasitologic and electrocardiographic study of the human population.

A serologic and electrocardiographic study was carried out in people living in 18 households in La Invernada (LI), Departamento Figueroa, and in 20 houses in Amamá (A), Departamento Moreno, both in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Serological tests performed were indirect hemagglutination (IHAT) and indirect immunofluorescence antibody tests (IFAT). Complement fixation, direct agglutination and ELISA tests were also done for those sera, showing discordant results for either IHAT or IFAT. All people in LI and children up to 12 years old in A were studied by xenodiagnosis. Approximately 50% of the whole population was infected (50% in LI and 50.9% in A) and a similar prevalence rate was already recorded in children below 10 years. A moderate increase of infection rates was observed in successively older age groups, indicating that most of the people became infected in the first decade of life. Comparison of serological profiles of both populations suggests a protective effect of insecticidal control campaigns in those individuals born between 1961 and 1971. New surveys carried out in both populations 2 years later rendered a 4 times greater annual incidence rate in A as compared with LI (7.9% vs 1.8% respectively). No differences were found in the percentages of abnormal electrocardiograms among seropositive and seronegative individuals from both settlements. The prevalence of complete right bundle branch block (RBBB) was higher in seropositive than in seronegative people (4.8% vs 2.3%) but lower than those figures recorded for other parts of the country and the continent. This suggests that in spite of its high prevalence, Chagas' disease has low morbidity in both localities.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The use of serologic methods in studying leishmaniasis].

The present state of leishmaniasis serological studies' problem is elucidated by analysing the data obtained for the last decade. The Data presented in the review demonstrate the possibility of studying quite different leishmaniasis problems by serological methods. The modified Adler test seems most suitable as serological method for Leishmania identification, while monoclonal antibody method looks most promising. Enzyme immunoassay is the most effective test used for serodiagnosis and leishmaniasis seroepidemiological studies, though it doesn't exclude other methods and, first of all, indirect immunofluorescence.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Comparison of the herpesviruses of cattle by DNA restriction endonuclease analysis and serologic analysis.

Reference strains and field isolates of herpesviruses recovered from cattle in the United States were compared by restriction endonuclease (RE) analysis and the indirect fluorescent antibody test. As a result of these comparisons, 5 major biotypes of bovine herpesvirus (BHV) were defined. These types were (i) infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (BHV-1), (ii) bovine herpes mammillitis virus (BHV-2), (iii) malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) virus (herpesvirus alcelaphinae), (iv) the group of slow-growth isolates represented by the prototype strain Movar 33/63 (bovine cytomegalovirus candidate), and (v) the syncytia-forming Pennsylvania 47 strain. Bovine herpesvirus-1 and BHV-2 did not cross-react serologically with any other type of BHV tested. A low, but consistent level of serologic cross-reactivity was detected among MCF virus, the Movar group, and Pennsylvania 47. Several nonsyncytial, slow-growth strains, which were recovered from dissimilar clinical syndromes and were serologically related to Movar 33/63, exhibited similar DNA RE cleavage patterns, confirming their identity as members of a single type. There was no isolate from American domestic cattle similar to the African MCF virus, which has been sporadically isolated from exotic ruminants in the United States. The African MCF virus isolated during a MCF epizootic in a United States zoo exhibited some DNA RE cleavage differences in comparison with the MCF virus world prototype strain WC 11, indicating that strain diversity exists within this biotype.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

[The role and place of serologic research in the system of epidemiologic surveillance of meningococcal infection].

The results of serological surveys, carried out with a view to the detection of capsular meningococcal polysaccharides in the passive hemagglutination (PHA) test and covering 1,289 patients with systemic meningococcal infection, 221 patients with bacteriologically confirmed meningococcal nasopharyngitis, 2,820 persons in organized groups of children and adults with different epidemiological situation (including 650 carriers) and 4,050 residents of 8 cities with different morbidity levels, were analyzed. The patients, the carriers and the members of organized groups underwent multiple surveys. As shown in this study, the confirmation of the meningococcal etiology of the systemic forms of meningococcal infection (meningitis, meningococcemia) in all cases with the exception of children under 1 year of age, as well as the determination of the groups of meningococci, could be achieved in the PHA test twice as frequently, i.e. in 60-70% of cases, as with the use of the bacteriological method. The same regularities were observed in nasopharyngitis. The conclusion was made on the possibility of using the PHA test for more exact determination of the group of meningococci, prevailing at the initial stage of diseases, this determination playing an essential role in the epidemiological surveillance. The data obtained as the result of serological surveys in organized groups may lead to conclusions on the circulation of meningococci and their group composition, thus showing the necessity of profound epidemiological study with ensuring epidemic-control measures. The selective serological study of some hundreds of donor sera is not expedient in big cities, as it provides no data on the circulation of meningococci there.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1987

The serologic diagnosis of viral infection. An update.

The traditional basis for the serologic diagnosis of a viral infection is demonstration of seroconversion or a significant increase in circulating homologous viral antibody over the course of illness. Conventional methods include neutralization, complement fixation, hemagglutination-inhibition, indirect hemagglutination, and indirect immunofluorescence tests. Although these methods are reliable, each suffers from limitations that include procedural complexity, substantial "hands-on" time, need for titrating reagents and serially diluting specimens, occasional false-positive or false-negative results, and lack of interlaboratory standardization. Because of these problems, improved methods and new techniques for serologic diagnosis have been developed and investigated. Many appear to be superior to conventional methods in sensitivity, specificity, cost, time required for completion, and potential for automation. The advent of hybridoma technology has provided an exceptional opportunity to improve serologic reagents for the diagnosis of viral disease. In addition, IgM-specific antibody tests for rapid and early diagnosis of many viral infections are being reevaluated to eliminate the interfering effects of rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies. Many of the new methodologies employ immunofluorescence assay or enzyme immunoassay for detection of specific IgM antibody, and latex agglutination, in addition to immunofluorescence and enzyme immunoassays, to detect specific IgG antibody. Simplified kits employing these methods are now becoming available commercially.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1987

[Use of erythrocyte diagnostic agents in the universal system of serological reactions].

A method of parallel serologic studies of the material for the detection of specific antigen or antibodies is proposed. This method is not inferior to the known systems of serologic tests (passive hemagglutination-antigen neutralization tests, passive hemagglutination--antibody neutralization tests, etc) in sensitivity and economy, but exceeds all of them in informative value. The method has been tested both experimentally and in the epizootic study of plague infection used as a model. A serologic tests with the use of erythrocyte diagnosticums are based on a universal principle, this method may be used for other infections.

Animals↗
PubMed1970

Diagnosis of whooping cough: comparison of serological tests with isolation of Bordetella pertussis. A combined Scottish study.

Antibody titres for Bordetella pertussis in paired sera from 223 children with suspected whooping cough showed good correlation by complement fixation and agglutination techniques. The patient's age was related to serological responses and in a different way to B. pertussis isolations: in 73 children under 6 months of age B. pertussis was isolated from nasopharyngeal secretions in 42% and serological findings were positive in 19%; in 11 patients over 1 year of age serological tests were positive in 65% and cultures in 19%.B. pertussis was isolated from 59 out of 210 patients, while rising antibody titres were found in a further 43 from whom no isolations were made; thus 102 (49%) out of 210 showed evidence of infection with B. pertussis. Serotype 1,3 was the commonest serotype isolated from both immunized and unimmunized children. Previous immunization appeared to reduce the chances of isolating B. pertussis.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1968

A review of serological tests for the diagnosis of hydatid disease.

Reviewing the literature on hydatid serology for the period 1958-66, the author concludes that the complement-fixation test is not the most sensitive procedure but may have value for postoperative evaluation. The haemagglutination, bentonite-flocculation and latex-agglutination tests are the procedures of choice at present. The fluorescent-antibody test shows much promise, but requires further evaluation. The intradermal test performed with standardized antigen is useful for diagnosis and epidemiological studies. Reliable serological diagnosis of hydatid disease in animals awaits the use of more specific antigen. Although many related species share common antigens with Echinococcus granulosus, the sensitivity of the diagnostic serological tests is high because of the strongly specific response elicited by the specific antigens used. the need for further standardization of both antigen and test procedure is pointed out.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Several yellow fever cases in an endemic area in Ivory Coast: serological and epidemiological evidence (author's transl)].

1 - More than hundred febrile haemorrhagic jaundice cases with an unexpectedly high number of death happened in the north-west of the Ivory Coast between October 1977 and December 1977. It was the end of the rainy season and in this area, yellow fever is a dreadful eventuality. 2 - Epidemiological and serological survey was immediately carried out. Presence of numerous yellow fever potential vectors was well known and has been noticed in September 1977; there were some left in December 1977. Therefore no virus was isolated either in September or further. 3 - Haemagglutination-inhibition, complement-fixation and neutralization tests were performed with six flavivirus antigens, i.e. yellow fever, Wesselsbron, West Nile, Ntaya, Uganda S and Zika. 2 or 3 sera from 29 patients and 49 school children who have recent jaundice history, sometimes with haemorrhagic symptoms, were available. Single sera from 52 young rural workers and 402 inhabitants of surrounding villages were examined too. 4 - By the way of clinical, epidemiological, serological evidence, authors concluded 21 cases were certainly yellow fever. Evidence of 2 other cases was demonstrated by specific micropathological features. Furthermore, by serological results, 20 were probably yellow fever, 15 were inconclusive and 476 certainly not. 5 - Authors discussed some specific difficulties of yellow fever retrospective diagnosis in flavivirus endemic area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Diagnostic possibilities of serology in diseases caused by members of the genus Candida berkhout.

Up to now, the diagnosis of candidiases has been an intriguing problem chiefly because the detection of Candida in the sick organism is no conclusive evidence of its etiological involvement. The endeavour to use serological methods in the diagnosis has not been successful and their use has so far practically been limited to taxonomic studies. In an effort to find a serological approach to the diagnosis, we found the agarimmunodiffusion assay of Ouchterlony to be the most promising method and used it in our own modification. The first stage of the work was to select and prepare the most suitable type of antigen for this reaction (described in the present paper). Sixteen antigen types classifiable into four groups were prepared: simple water-extracted antigens, alcohol-extracted antigens, antigens obtained on disrupting cells by repeated freezing and thawing, and antigens prepared by boiling cultures. Cultures for antigen preparation were grown on Salvin's medium or on liquid Sabourad's medium and the antigens obtained were either used in their native form or dialysed. Serological tests with hyperimmune rabbit sera prepared by our own schedule were done repeatedly. By far the best were simple water-extracted antigens, nondialysed, from cultures grown on Sabouraud's medium. They reacted the most sensitively, gave high antibody detection rates and assessable precipitin reactions and showed high species specificity. Tests with positive human sera fully confirmed these findings; in fact, species specificity was even somewhat higher here.

Antibodies, Fungal↗
PubMed1984

Serologic pattern of canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) infection.

A total of 602 dogs at the Louisiana State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital were tested for antibodies to Dirofilaria immitis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using a purified adult dirofilaria-derived antigen. Most dogs also were evaluated for heartworm infection by a complete WBC count and a Knott test for circulating microfilariae. The serologic prevalence of heartworm infection was 34.7%; prevalence increased significantly (P = 0.0003) with age up to 8 years and then decreased. Dogs usually kept indoors were significantly (P = 0.005) less likely to be infected, as were dogs given diethylcarbamazine therapy (P = 0.0004). Coat length, sex, breed, and presence of intestinal parasites were not associated (P greater than 0.05) with a positive heartworm ELISA result. The ELISA titers showed a positive relationship with both eosinophil and basophil counts. A total of 99 dogs evaluated radiographically were grouped according to results of the Knott test and radiographic examination as follows: (i) negative Knott test and negative radiographic examination (14 dogs), (ii) negative Knott test and positive radiographic examination (57 dogs), and (iii) positive Knott test and positive radiographic examination (28 dogs). The serologic prevalences of D immitis infection in each of these groups were 35.7%, 56.1%, and 85.7% for groups (i), (ii), and (iii), respectively. The ELISA, when used in conjunction with the Knott test results, record of exposure, clinical signs, laboratory results, and radiographic changes, was found to be useful for studying serologic patterns and identifying risk factors for canine heartworm infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Rubella serology: a need for improvement.

Rubella serology as performed by certain clinical laboratories is not always satisfactory. Until all the laboratory methods are improved, physicians should save all rubella sera for 1 year so that repeat testing may be conducted. The answer to the problem must come from improvements in rubella serologic tests being offered, plus improved laboratory performance and monitoring to ensure valid serologic data.

False Positive Reactions↗