The VCS Parameters of Lymphocytes may Improve Discrimination between Bacterial Infection and Viral Infection

Distinguishing bacterial infections from viral infections is very important for accurate and appro-priate drug treatment, alleviating diseases and avoiding side effects caused by drug abuse. The aim of this study is to assess the clinical usefulness of the lymphocyte VCS (volume, conductivity, light scatter) parameters to dis-tinguish bacterial infection from viral infection.

Peripheral blood was collected from 60 viral infection patients (VIG), 63 bacterial infection patients (BIG), and 95 healthy controls (HC). The lymphocyte VCS parameters and blood routine indicators were obtained by using a hematology analyzer with VCS technology. The critical cutoff value, sensitivity and specificity were established based on receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Mean volume of lymphocytes (MV-LY), median angle light scatter of lymphocytes (MALS-LY), upper median angle light scatter of lymphocytes (UMALS-LY), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were significantly increased in the bacterial infection group compared with the viral infection group and the healthy controls. The area under curve (AUC) for mean volume of lymphocytes (MV-LY) was 0.8143 for discriminating the bacterial infection group from the viral infection group. For median angle light scatter of lymphocytes (MALS-LY), the area under curve (AUC) was 0.8116. For upper median angle light scatter of lymphocytes (UMALS-LY), the area under curve (AUC) was 0.8631. For neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the area under curve (AUC) was 0.8513.

This study clarifies that mean volume of lymphocytes, median angle light scatter of lymphocytes, and upper median angle light scatter of lymphocytes have good clinical practical value in distinguishing bacterial infection from viral infection and healthy controls because of its high sensitivity and specificity.