[Uses of polymeric-OT antigen ELISA in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis]

794 cases of tuberculosis were examined by polymeric-OT antigen ELISA. There were 276 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and 257 of them were positive, giving a positive rate of 93.12%. When the advancing stage and the improving stage were compared respectively with the stable stage, it was seen that P less than 0.01. There were 164 cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis and 151 of them were positive, giving a positive rate of 92.07%. When compared with the stable stage of pulmonary tuberculosis, it was seen that P less than 0.01. There were 304 cases of other febrile diseases and 43 of them were positive, yielding a positive rate of 14.15%. Comparing with the group of tuberculosis it showed P less than 0.01. There were 50 healthy subjects in the control group and 2 of them were positive. In all the cases diagnosed as tuberculosis, re-examination after 6 months of regular chemotherapy showed remarkable lessening of positive cases. Practice has proved that this method is more advantageous than the other serological methods in the diagnosis of tuberculotic diseases.