Determination of antibodies to Streptococcus group a polysaccharide by an immunodiffusion method in human sera in various pathological processes of streptococcal etiology
Borodiiuk, N.A.; Liampert, I.M.; Mikhaĭlova, I.N.; Novikov, F.E.; Cherkasov, V.L.
Zhurnal Mikrobiologii Epidemiologii i Immunobiologii 6: 77-81
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0372-9311 PMID: 2412372 Document Number: 267258
A method for the assay of antibodies to the specific antigenic determinant of group A streptococcal polysaccharide (A-polysaccharide) in human sera was developed. The sera were tested in the precipitation test in agar gel with different doses of A-polysaccharide. The presence of a high level of the above-mentioned antibodies is indicative of infection caused by group A streptococcus, but not streptococci of other groups or by the L-forms of streptococci. In 87.5% of patients with primary rheumatism a high level of antibodies to the specific antigenic determinant of A-polysaccharide was detected during the first day of the disease, which confirms most convincingly the etiological role of group A streptococcus in rheumatism. Considerable differences in the level of antibodies to A-polysaccharide in the active and non-active phases of rheumatism have been established, which makes it possible to use the presence of a high level of these antibodies as an indicator of the rheumatic process activity. A considerable percentage of sera with a high level of antibodies to A-polysaccharide was also detected in erysipelas and acute glomerulonephritis patients.