The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease.
Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis affecting livestock and human beings. The human disease lacks pathognomonic symptoms and laboratory tests are essential for its diagnosis. However, most tests are difficult to implement in the areas and countries were brucellosis is endemic. Here, we compa...
Published in: | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 https://doaj.org/article/7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca 2023-05-15T15:10:34+02:00 The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. Ramón Díaz Aurora Casanova Javier Ariza Ignacio Moriyón 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 https://doaj.org/article/7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3079581?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 https://doaj.org/article/7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e950 (2011) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 2022-12-31T07:27:05Z Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis affecting livestock and human beings. The human disease lacks pathognomonic symptoms and laboratory tests are essential for its diagnosis. However, most tests are difficult to implement in the areas and countries were brucellosis is endemic. Here, we compared the simple and cheap Rose Bengal Test (RBT) with serum agglutination, Coombs, competitive ELISA, Brucellacapt, lateral flow immunochromatography for IgM and IgG detection and immunoprecipitation with Brucella proteins. We tested 208 sera from patients with brucellosis proved by bacteriological isolation, 20 contacts with no brucellosis, and 1559 sera of persons with no recent contact or brucellosis symptoms. RBT was highly sensitive in acute and long evolution brucellosis cases and this related to its ability to detect IgM, IgG and IgA, to the absence of prozones, and to the agglutinating activity of blocking IgA at the pH of the test. RBT was also highly specific in the sera of persons with no contact with Brucella. No test in this study outperformed RBT, and none was fully satisfactory in distinguishing contacts from infected patients. When modified to test serum dilutions, a diagnostic titer >4 in RBT resulted in 87.4% sensitivity (infected patients) and 100% specificity (contacts). We discuss the limitations of serological tests in the diagnosis of human brucellosis, particularly in the more chronic forms, and conclude that simplicity and affordability of RBT make it close to the ideal test for small and understaffed hospitals and laboratories. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 5 4 e950 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Ramón Díaz Aurora Casanova Javier Ariza Ignacio Moriyón The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis affecting livestock and human beings. The human disease lacks pathognomonic symptoms and laboratory tests are essential for its diagnosis. However, most tests are difficult to implement in the areas and countries were brucellosis is endemic. Here, we compared the simple and cheap Rose Bengal Test (RBT) with serum agglutination, Coombs, competitive ELISA, Brucellacapt, lateral flow immunochromatography for IgM and IgG detection and immunoprecipitation with Brucella proteins. We tested 208 sera from patients with brucellosis proved by bacteriological isolation, 20 contacts with no brucellosis, and 1559 sera of persons with no recent contact or brucellosis symptoms. RBT was highly sensitive in acute and long evolution brucellosis cases and this related to its ability to detect IgM, IgG and IgA, to the absence of prozones, and to the agglutinating activity of blocking IgA at the pH of the test. RBT was also highly specific in the sera of persons with no contact with Brucella. No test in this study outperformed RBT, and none was fully satisfactory in distinguishing contacts from infected patients. When modified to test serum dilutions, a diagnostic titer >4 in RBT resulted in 87.4% sensitivity (infected patients) and 100% specificity (contacts). We discuss the limitations of serological tests in the diagnosis of human brucellosis, particularly in the more chronic forms, and conclude that simplicity and affordability of RBT make it close to the ideal test for small and understaffed hospitals and laboratories. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ramón Díaz Aurora Casanova Javier Ariza Ignacio Moriyón |
author_facet |
Ramón Díaz Aurora Casanova Javier Ariza Ignacio Moriyón |
author_sort |
Ramón Díaz |
title |
The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
title_short |
The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
title_full |
The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
title_fullStr |
The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Rose Bengal Test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
title_sort |
rose bengal test in human brucellosis: a neglected test for the diagnosis of a neglected disease. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 https://doaj.org/article/7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e950 (2011) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3079581?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 https://doaj.org/article/7424383c23ad473ab69eafb7997b63ca |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000950 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e950 |
_version_ |
1766341568513441792 |