We assessed the performance of a serological test for tuberculosis (SDHO Laboratories Inc., Canada) in our setting. Among 68 of 99 suspected pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were scored as having tuberculosis on the basis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-positive culture, the sensitivity of the serological test was lower than that of sputum smear microscopic examination (20.6% versus 80.9%, res...

CONTEXT The most frequently used methods for detecting antibodies are the indirect immunofluorescence test and the enzymatic immunoassay (ELISA). The polymerase chain reaction is a molecular biology technique in which the production of large amounts of specific DNA fragments is induced from very low concentrations of complex substrates aloowing the detection of very low amounts of viral particl...

A positive serological diagnosis of amoebiasis could be made by immunofluorescence in 66 of 78 established cases, taking a serum titre of 16 or higher as diagnostic: at this level there were no false positives among 94 control sera. The test is simple and may be carried out on amoebic smears stored for several months in 2-octanol. The serological activity is largely confined to the IgG immunogl...

Brucellosis is an infectious disease that affects many organ systems. Osteoarticular involvement, especially spondylitis, is the most common complication of brucellosis, but psoas abscess is very rare. Serological tests at diagnosis of the disease are very valuable and most widely used. Herein, we report a case of psoas abscess secondary to brucellar spondylitis. In this case, interestingly, th...

Introduction The year 2006 represented the centenary of the first diagnostic serological test, the Wasserman complement fixation test for the diagnosis of syphilis. In this article I will relate some developments I have observed in the day-to-day running of a diagnostic serology laboratory over the thirty years preceding this centenary. I have assumed some background knowledge and elected to di...

Four serological tests and three immunofluorescence tests for IgG, IgM, and IgA were compared for value in the investigation of brucellosis in veterinary surgeons. No one serological test stood out over the others, and the immunofluorescence tests did not appear to have advantages over the serological tests. If a laboratory is limited in time and resources then the saline agglutination or the c...

human visceral and ocular toxocariasis can occasionally be a serious or life-threatening condition, especially for children. the diagnosis and confirmation of the disease mostly based upon serological tests. the purpose of the present study was to evaluate somatic antigen with regard to its application in a routine diagnostic laboratory test. using gel-filtration chromatography, fraction no.1 o...

Transposition of diagnostic tests used in domestic livestock species to free-ranging and captive wildlife species has two problems. First, most existing tests have not been adequately validated in domestic livestock. Second, assumptions that a serological test will perform identically in wildlife and livestock species may not be correct, due to differences in pathogenic strains and serovars, ho...

Serological tests for tuberculosis are inaccurate and WHO has recommended against their use. Although not used by the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), serodiagnostics are widely used in the private sector in India. A root-cause analysis was undertaken to determine why serological tests are so popular, and seven root causes were identified that can be grouped into three categories:...

visceral leishmaniasis (vl) is a zoonotic disease caused by leishmania species. dogs are considered to be the main reservoir of vl. a number of methods and antigen-based assays are used for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. however, currently available methods are mainly based on direct examination of tissues for the presence of parasites, which is highly invasive. a variety of serological tests ...