Mycobacteria’s Antibodies Search: Serology, an Important Neglected Means to Establish a Diagnosis and a Prognosis

Abstract

The WHO has banned the use of blood tests for the diagnostic and prognostic of tuberculosis. This is a monumental error that it never corrected. The current ban deprives the mycobacterial community of a tool that is essential to combat the disease. Serology estimates the humoral immune status of a patient or a population. It is not a substitute to antigen detection, but it is comparable to the tuberculin test which estimates the cellular immune status. Both give an evocative expression of the tubercle bacillus immunosuppressive activity and indicate the mobilization level of the infected patients’ immune defense. In opposition to the tuberculin reaction which makes the cutaneous test devoid of interest after a positive turn, the serology fluctuates according to the antigenic load.