Latex agglutination: diagnose the early cryptococcus neoformans test of capsular polysaccharide antigen.

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to discuss the early diagnosis value of latex agglutination test in Cryptococcal meningitis. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 112 patients with definite Cryptococcal meningitis and 26 patients with tubercular meningitis and virus meningitis were collected, latex agglutination test is adopted to detect Cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide antigen. Then it was compared with fungal culture and direct microscopy method for evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis. The sensitivity of three methods including latex agglutination test, fungal culture and direct microscopy was 91.1%,69.6% and 73.2% respectively. The specificity of latex agglutination test was 96.0%, 100% and 100% respectively. That latex agglutination test to detect Cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide antigen could be taken as the early diagnostic method of Cryptococcus neoformans meningitis.