Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (7)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by NG, T.T.C.
Right arrow Articles by WILKINS, E.G.L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by NG, T.T.C.
Right arrow Articles by WILKINS, E.G.L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Q J Med 1995; 88: 317-320
© 1995 Association of Physicians

Serodiagnosis of pericardial tuberculosis

T.T.C. NG1,2, J.I.G. STRANG3 and E.G.L. WILKINS1

1 Monsall Unit, Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, North Manchester General Hospital Manchester 2 Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manchester Medical School Manchester, UK 3 Cecilia Makiwane Hospital Ciskei, South Africa

Received 26 September 1994 Accepted for publication 13 December 1994.


  Abstract

The AIDS epidemic has led to the resurgence of tuberculosis. Extrapulmonary manifestations may appear in over half of the patients who are dually infected. This has resulted in a rising incidence of tuberculous pericarditis in several parts of Africa such as Tanzania. We tested a solid-phase antibody competition sandwich ELISA (SACT-SE) as a potential means of diagnosing tuberculous pericarditis. Fifty-one African patients with clinically diagnosed tuberculous pericardial effusion (of whom 25 had confirmation by pericardial fluid culture) were tested using a monoclonal antibody (CDC/WHO ref. no. IT39) which was raised against a specific epitope on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 30 kDa antigen. All but one patient had negative sputum microscopy for acid-fast bacilli. A sensitivity of 61 %(at 96%specificity) was achieved. Sera from 25 African patients with smear-positive tuberculosis were also examined; of which 20 tested positive (sensitivity 80%). This is the largest study to date on the potential application of serology in diagnosing pericardial tuberculosis.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.