Clinical Utility of EIA in Serodiagnosis of Extra-pulmonary Tuberculosis using 38kDa Mycobacterial Antigen.

摘要

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem worldwide affecting 8 million persons per year and according to WHO, it is the tenth most common cause of death due to infectious diseases. EPTB is an emerging infectious disease and its incidence is increasing world over. Reasons can be lack of collection of appropriate samples from extra pulmonary sites, paucibacillary nature of lesions, lack of diagnostic resources and poor yield from conventional smear, culture and histology. Diagnosis of EPTB has always been a challenge. Conventional bacteriological diagnostic methods Ziehl Nelson stain, smear examination and culture have a poor sensitivity and specificity. Currently available molecular methods like gene probe, PCR and gene sequencing cannot be performed in all hospital laboratories as these methods are technically too demanding and expensive. Commercially available ELISA test kits like A60, ES 31, KP -90 are being used to help in the diagnosis of EPTB.