Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.

The efficacy of pneumococcal vaccines in protecting against pneumococcal pneumonia can feasibly be measured only with a diagnostic technique that has a high specificity (0.98 to 1.00) and a sensitivity greatly exceeding that of blood cultures (>0.2 to 0.3). In this context immune-complex enzy...

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Main Authors: Scott, J, Hall, A, Leinonen, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2000
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author Scott, J
Hall, A
Leinonen, M
author_facet Scott, J
Hall, A
Leinonen, M
author_sort Scott, J
collection OXFORD
description The efficacy of pneumococcal vaccines in protecting against pneumococcal pneumonia can feasibly be measured only with a diagnostic technique that has a high specificity (0.98 to 1.00) and a sensitivity greatly exceeding that of blood cultures (>0.2 to 0.3). In this context immune-complex enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) offer a novel, convenient diagnostic method, and we have investigated three such assays with appropriate study populations in Kenya. Sera from 129 Kenyan adults with pneumococcal pneumonia and 97 ill controls from the same clinics, but without pneumococcal disease syndromes, were assayed with immune-complex EIAs for pneumolysin, C-polysaccharide, and mixed capsular polysaccharides (Pneumovax II). At an optical density (OD) threshold yielding a specificity of 0.95, the sensitivities (95% confidence intervals) of the assays were 0.22 (0.15 to 0.30), 0.26 (0.19 to 0.34), and 0.22 (0.15 to 0.29), respectively. For pneumolysin immune complexes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients had a higher mean OD than HIV-negative patients (639 versus 321; P < 0.0001), but stratification by HIV infection status did not alter the performance of this test. Combining the results of all three EIAs did not enhance the diagnostic performances of the individual assays. In Kenyan adults the sensitivities of the immune-complex EIAs could exceed that of blood cultures only at levels of specificity that were insufficient for the performance of vaccine efficacy studies.
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spelling oxford-uuid:0a7f3acd-94c1-4a65-a641-24b524e6beb22022-03-26T09:24:08ZValidation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0a7f3acd-94c1-4a65-a641-24b524e6beb2EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2000Scott, JHall, ALeinonen, MThe efficacy of pneumococcal vaccines in protecting against pneumococcal pneumonia can feasibly be measured only with a diagnostic technique that has a high specificity (0.98 to 1.00) and a sensitivity greatly exceeding that of blood cultures (>0.2 to 0.3). In this context immune-complex enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) offer a novel, convenient diagnostic method, and we have investigated three such assays with appropriate study populations in Kenya. Sera from 129 Kenyan adults with pneumococcal pneumonia and 97 ill controls from the same clinics, but without pneumococcal disease syndromes, were assayed with immune-complex EIAs for pneumolysin, C-polysaccharide, and mixed capsular polysaccharides (Pneumovax II). At an optical density (OD) threshold yielding a specificity of 0.95, the sensitivities (95% confidence intervals) of the assays were 0.22 (0.15 to 0.30), 0.26 (0.19 to 0.34), and 0.22 (0.15 to 0.29), respectively. For pneumolysin immune complexes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients had a higher mean OD than HIV-negative patients (639 versus 321; P < 0.0001), but stratification by HIV infection status did not alter the performance of this test. Combining the results of all three EIAs did not enhance the diagnostic performances of the individual assays. In Kenyan adults the sensitivities of the immune-complex EIAs could exceed that of blood cultures only at levels of specificity that were insufficient for the performance of vaccine efficacy studies.
spellingShingle Scott, J
Hall, A
Leinonen, M
Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title_full Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title_fullStr Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title_full_unstemmed Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title_short Validation of immune-complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in Kenya.
title_sort validation of immune complex enzyme immunoassays for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia among adults in kenya
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AT leinonenm validationofimmunecomplexenzymeimmunoassaysfordiagnosisofpneumococcalpneumoniaamongadultsinkenya