CVI
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Diaz, T.
Right arrow Articles by Markowitz, L. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Diaz, T.
Right arrow Articles by Markowitz, L. E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 2004, p. 98-101, Vol. 11, No. 1
1071-412X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.11.1.98-101.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Evaluation of the Determine Rapid Syphilis TP Assay Using Sera

Theresa Diaz,1,2* Maria de Gloria Bonecini Almeida,2 Ingebourg Georg,3 Suely de Carvalho Maia,3 Rogerio Valls de Souza,4 and Lauri E. Markowitz5

Global AIDS Program,1 Division of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia,5 Pan American Health Organization, Brasilia,2 Immunology Service,3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Evandro Chagas Research Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil4

Received 20 May 2003/ Returned for modification 6 August 2003/ Accepted 4 November 2003

The Abbott Determine Rapid Syphilis TP assay is a treponemal test that can be used in resource-poor settings that lack laboratory facilities. However, this test has not been extensively evaluated. We measured its sensitivity and specificity by using stored serum specimens (n = 567) from all persons who tested Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA) positive (n = 250) or TPHA indeterminate (n = 17) in the year 2001 and the first 300 patients in 2001 who tested TPHA negative at the Evandro Chagas Research Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This rapid assay was independently interpreted by three different observers. With TPHA results as the reference, sensitivity ranged between readers from 95.6 to 98.4% and specificity ranged from 97.3 to 95.7%. There was little interreader variability in the interpretation of results, with approximately 98% agreement for all reader combinations. Of samples from persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (n = 198), sensitivity was 96.9 to 99.2% and it was 94.4 to 96.3% among HIV-negative persons (n = 127). Specificity was 92.4 to 95.5% among HIV-positive persons and 97.2 to 100% among HIV-negative persons. We found this test to have high sensitivity and specificity and little interreader variability, indicating that it may be easily used in resource-poor settings without laboratory facilities. Further studies are needed using this test on whole blood and under the clinical conditions for which it is intended.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCSTP, GAP, MS E30, 1600 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30333. Phone: (404) 498-2754. Fax: (404) 639-8114. E-mail: txd1{at}cdc. gov.

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 2004, p. 98-101, Vol. 11, No. 1
1071-412X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.11.1.98-101.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. Infect. Immun.
J. Clin. Microbiol. J. Virol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.