title: Rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis with a dot enzyme immunoassay to detect antibody in cerebrospinal fluid.
abstract: A simple dot enzyme immunoassay (Dot-EIA) was carried out to detect antibody to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen 5 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens from 40 patients with a clinical diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). The assay gave a positive reaction in all ten patients with culture proven TBM. In 30 culture negative patients with TBM, the assay was positive at a titre of 1:16 in 18 patients. In 40 patients with non-tuberculous neurological diseases (control group) the assay was negative at a titre of 1:16. The Dot-EIA had an overall sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 100% in the diagnosis of TBM. This assay could be used as a rapid screening test to establish the diagnosis of TBM, particularly in patients in whom bacteriological investigations for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in CSF specimens are negative.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathai
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D014373:Tuberculin / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: C016603:Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen 5; D014373:Tuberculin