Aglutinación de partículas de látex vs. contrainmunoelectroforesis en meningitis bacteriana aguda

A comparison was made between latex particles agglutination (LPA) and counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) in the diagnosis of 57 children with acute bacterial meningitis; reagents were utllized to detect infection by Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis. Results of both tests were similar for diagnosis of H. influenzae and S. pneumoniae; in contrast only 30.0% of cases due to N. meningitidis gave a positive result with LP A and none was detected with CIE.in 12 patients (21.0%) LPA and CIE were the only tests that allowed a precise determination ot the etiology of the disease. The authors recommend LPA for the particular situation of limited availability of funds since it is more economic than CIE and the quality of the results is similar.