Rapid diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis by use of lateral flow assay on cerebrospinal fluid samples : influence of the high-dose “hook” effect
Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Abstract
Cryptococcal meningitis is the most frequent cause of meningitis and a major cause of mortality in HIV-infected adults in Africa. This study evaluated the performance of the lateral flow assay (LFA) on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples for the diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis against that of existing diagnostic tests. LFA performed on 465 undiluted CSF samples had a sensitivity of 91%. When the LFA was paired with Gram staining, a sensitivity of 100% was achieved after implementation of a dilution step for samples with negative LFA results and the presence of yeasts on microscopy. Microscopy is essential for preventing the reporting of false-negative results due to the high-dose “hook” effect.
Description
CITATION: Lourens, A., et al. 2014. Rapid diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis by use of lateral flow assay on cerebrospinal fluid samples: Influence of the high-dose “hook” effect. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 52 (12): 4172-4175, doi: 10.1128/JCM.01683-14.
The original publication is available at http://jcm.asm.org
The original publication is available at http://jcm.asm.org
Keywords
Meningitis -- Diagnosis -- South Africa, HIV infections -- Complication -- South Africa, Lateral flow tests
Citation
Lourens, A., et al. 2014. Rapid diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis by use of lateral flow assay on cerebrospinal fluid samples: Influence of the high-dose “hook” effect. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 52 (12): 4172-4175, doi: 10.1128/JCM.01683-14