title: A new coagglutination test for detecting pneumococcal C-polysaccharide.
abstract: A new coagglutination test (PnC-CoA) for detecting pneumococcal C-polysaccharide (PnC) was compared with a commercial kit for detecting capsular polysaccharide using sputum samples from 105 patients with pneumonia. The sensitivity obtained with PnC-CoA was 95.8% and with the commercial kit 83.3%; the specificity was 96.5% and 91.2%, respectively. The PnC-CoA is simple to perform and it is a rapid, sensitive and specific test for detecting Streptococcus pneumoniae in sputa from adult patients with pneumonia.
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D013183:Sputum / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; C027158:polysaccharide C-substance (Streptococcus)