Antigens In Sputum Research Articles

Persistence of Pneumococcal Antigens in Sputum after Treatment of Pneumonia

Persistence of Pneumococcal Antigens in Sputum after Treatment of Pneumonia

The diagnosis of pneumococcal chest infection by counter-current-immunoelectrophoresis.

A simple, inexpensive method of counter‐current‐immunoelectrophoresis was used to detect pneumococcal antigens in sputum, serum and pleural fluid. Antigens were detected in sputa from 69% of subjects with pneumococcal pneumonia and there was a good correlation with the certainty of the clinical diagnosis. Serum antigens were found in 12.5% of subjects with either a definite or a presumed diagnosis and in one case from a patient who was not thought to have pneumococcal pneumonia. The pathogenic importance of antigens in the sputa of patients with a history of chronic respiratory disease was uncertain. Counter‐current‐immunoelectrophoresis was more sensitive than routine bacteriological methods for demonstrating the presence of pneumococci in pleural fluids.

Countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis: improved detection of pneumococcal capsular antigens in sputum by incorporation of a carboxylated derivative of phenyl boronic acid.

Countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis: improved detection of pneumococcal capsular antigens in sputum by incorporation of a carboxylated derivative of phenyl boronic acid.

Detection of Legionella pneumonophila antigen in urine by enzyme-linked immunospecific assay

An enzyme-linked immunospecific assay "sandwich" technique was developed for detecting soluble antigen from the Legionnaires disease bacterium (Legionella pneumophila). With this technique, antigen was detected in urine specimens from guinea pigs inoculated intraperitoneally with heat-killed Legionnaires disease bacteria and in urine specimens from three of four patients who attended the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia in 1976. Urine from a fifth pneumonia patient who attended the Eucharistic Congress (but who was a dubious seroconverter) was negative. Presumably, the test could also be used for detecting antigen in sputum or respiratory aspirates, but this has not been tried to date.

Detection of capsulated Haemophilus influenzae in chest infections by counter current immunoelectrophoresis.

The application of counter current immunoelectrophoresis to the detection of Haemophilus influenzae capsular antigen in sputum is described. The method, technically simple, provided results within 30 minutes. H. influenzae capsular antigen was detected in 12% of patients and in 54.8% of the H. influenzae strains isolated. The test was not impaired by prior antibiotic therapy.

Detection of penumococcal antigens in the sputum in pneumococcal pneumonia.

Forty-seven patients with bacterial pneumonia were grouped by use of clinical criteria according to the relative certainty of a diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia. Sputums were tested for pneumococcal antigens by counterimmunoelectrophoresis with polyvalent pneumococcal antiserum. Antigens were detected in the sputum of 29 of 39 patients with evidence of pneumococcal pneumonia, and there was good correlation between the detection of antigens and the degree of certainty of the clinical diagnosis. Antigens persisted briefly in the sputum during therapy with antimicrobial drugs and could be detected during the first 48 hours of therapy in most cases of pneumococcal pneumonia. Pneumococci were isolated from the sputum in only 18 of 39 cases of pneumococcal pneumonia, and sputum cultures did not correlate as well as counterimmunoelectrophoresis with clinical diagnoses. In studies of 27 patients with chronic bronchitis without pneumonia, pneumococci were isolated from sputum in 10 cases, whereas counterimmunoelectrophoresis was positive in 5 cases. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis provides a simple and rapid method for detecting pneumococcal antigens in sputum, and it appears to be more reliable than sputum cultures in establishing a presumptive diagnosis in pneumococcal pneumonia.

Counter-current immunoelectrophoresis for the diagnosis of pneumococcal chest infection.

Counter-current immunoelectrohporesis is a rapid sensitive method for detecting pneumococcal capsular antigens in sputum. A result can be obtained within 45 minutes. The optimum conditions for performing the test are given. Counter-current immunoelectrophoresis works with all the 33 pneumococcal antigens tested except type 14. Better precipitin lines are obtained when the gel-support is acid (pH 6-6) than when it is alkaline (pH 8-6). Omniserum is as effective as group-specific sera for the identification of pneumococcal capsular antigens. The findings suggest that pneumococcal infection was present in 44% of 300 unselected suspected chest infections. Culture for pneumococci was positive in only 15% of these cases. The clinical importance of these findings is still being studied but our experience has shown that patients with chest infections should have effective antipneumococcal antibiotics as part of their regimen and that the laboratory diagnosis may be made quickly and accurately by counter-current immunoelectrophoresis.