Comparação de testes nao treponêmicos utilizados no diagnóstico da sifilis e interferência da inativação do soro

A sifilis e uma doenca infecciosa cronica causada pelo Treponema pallidum, cujo diagnostico incorreto propicia a transmissao da doenca via sexual e placentaria. O trabalho avaliou comparativamente os testes Veneral Diseases Research Laboratory (VDRL) e Rapid Plasm Reagin (RPR) na triagem sorologica e determinou a interferencia da inativacao do soro. Foram empregados reagentes comerciais na avaliacao de amostras de soro de 110 individuos saudaveis e de 20 pacientes portadores de sifilis, antes e apos a inativacao a 56oC/30min. O procedimento tecnico seguindo as instrucoes do fabricante mostrou sensibilidade de 100% para ambos os testes, embora 45% das amostras reativas tenham mostrado titulos superiores no VDRL. A especificidade foi de 100% no VDRL e 97,3% no RPR. A inativacao do soro mostrou nao interferir nos resultados do VDRL, enquanto que o RPR mostrou maior especificidade para amostras inativadas, embora sem diferenca significativa (p=0,248).(AU) Syphilis is a chronic infectious illness caused by the Treponema pallidum, which incorrect diagnosis propitiates the transmission mainly by sexual contact and from mother to child (trans-placentary). The present work evaluated the Veneral Diseases Research Laboratory (VDRL) and the Rapid Plasm Reagin (RPR) assays and also determined the interference of the serum inactivation. Commercial reagents were used to evaluate sera samples from 110 healthful individuals and 20 patients with syphilis, before and after inactivation at 56oC/30min. In the technical procedure according the manufacturers’ instructions, both assays had presented 100% of sensitivity, although 45% of the reactive samples have shown bigger values in VDRL. The specificity was 100% for VDRL and 97.3% for RPR. The serum inactivation showed no interference in VDRL results, while in RPR was observed a greater specificity with inactivated samples, although with no significant difference (p=0,248).(AU)