title: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent-assay for antigen detection in tuberculous meningitis.
abstract: Two systems of Competitive Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were developed to detect Mycobacterial antigen in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM)--one by using indigenously prepared Anti-M.tuberculosis H37Rv-Penicillinase conjugate (Method I) and another by using commercially available Anti M. bovis BCG-Horse Radish Peroxidase (HRP) conjugate--(Method II). The tests were used to analyse CSF of 148 patients clinically confirmed as having TBM and 278 control subjects. By using > or = 10 ng/ml as the cut-off value for Method I and > or = 1 ng/ml as that for Method II, the specificity for both were 100% and positivity was 79.73% and 67.57% respectively. A follow up study in 26 TBM cases after 2 weeks (16 cases), 4 weeks (13 cases) and 4-12 months (10 cases) of antituberculous treatment revealed that mycobacterial antigen persisted in the majority of cases even after 4 weeks of the treatment.
authors.affiliation: L.T.M. Medical College, Sion, Bombay.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gogate
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deodhar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toddywalla
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kelkar
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial