False-positive serological tests in acute malaria.
A range of serological tests, including rapid plasma reagin (RPR), Widal test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and -2, direct Coombs' test (DCT), and rheumatoid factor (RF) were performed in a well-characterised cohort of 100 patients with acute malaria (Plasmodium vivax infection: 31 patients; P. falciparum infection: 69 patients). Twenty-five healthy volunteers from a similar area were used as controls. Three patients from the severe P. falciparum group died, the remainder of the patients recovered completely. A large proportion of these patients showed false-positive serological reactions during the acute stage of infection, which became negative on re-testing, four weeks after recovery. In tropical countries such as India, where malaria is endemic, results of serological tests should be interpreted with caution in a patient with pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO).
Ghosh
K
K
Institute of Immunohaematology (ICMR), 13th Floor, KEM Hospital MS Building, Parel, Mumbai-400012, India. kanjakshaghosh@hotmail.com
Javeri
K N
KN
Mohanty
D
D
Parmar
B D
BD
Surati
R R
RR
Joshi
S H
SH
D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis; D000208:Acute Disease; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003298:Coombs Test; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008288:Malaria / Q000150:complications*; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000032:analysis; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis
D012217:Rheumatoid Factor