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Title: | Diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in Ghana: Polymerase chain reaction versus latex agglutination methods |
Authors: | Amidu, Nafiu Antuamwine, Benedict Boateng Addai-Mensah, Otchere Abdul-Karim, Abass Stebleson, Azure et. al |
Issue Date: | 17-Jan-2019 |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Citation: | Amidu N, Antuamwine BB, Addai-Mensah O, Abdul-Karim A, Stebleson A, Abubakari BB, et al. (2019) Diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in Ghana: Polymerase chain reaction versus latex agglutination methods. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0210812. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0210812 |
Abstract: | Bacterial meningitis is a public health crisis in the northern part of Ghana, where it contributes
to very high mortality and morbidity rates. Early detection of the causative organism will
lead to better management and effective treatment. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic
accuracy of Pastorex and Wellcogen latex agglutination tests for the detection of bacterial
meningitis in a resource-limited setting. CSF samples from 330 suspected meningitis
patients within the northern zone of Ghana were analysed for bacterial agents at the zonal
Public Health Reference Laboratory in Tamale using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and
two latex agglutination test kits; Pastorex and Wellcogen. The overall positivity rate of samples
tested for bacterial meningitis was 46.4%. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most
common cause of bacterial meningitis within the sub-region, with positivity rate of 25.2%,
28.2% and 28.8% when diagnosed using Wellcogen, Pastorex and PCR respectively. The
Pastorex method was 97.4% sensitive while the Wellcogen technique was 87.6% sensitive.
Both techniques however produced the same specificity of 99.4%. Our study revealed that
the Pastorex method has a better diagnostic value for bacterial meningitis than the Wellcogen
method and should be the method of choice in the absence of PCR. |
Description: | An article published by Public Library of Science and also available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210812 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/12313 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Health Sciences
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