DETECTION OF ASPERGILLUS GALACTOMANNAN ANTIGEN IN FOODS AND ANTIBIOTICS

The specificity of the Pastorex Aspergillus latex agglutination test f or the diagnosis of manifest aspergillosis is hampered by the occurren ce of false-positive results. In order to prove whether or not the fal se-positive reactions may be caused by the uptake of the soluble galac tomannan antigen from the environment, the presence of the antigen was tested in foods, air samples, antibiotics for therapeutic use and fae ces. Reactions of the Aspergillus latex agglutination test were found in 15 (79%) out of 19 samples of meals prepared in a hospital kitchen, in five out of six canned vegetables from a supermarket, in all of si x samples of pasta and rice bought in health shops, in the faeces of f our bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients and of four healthy subjec ts and in one and two batches of the antibiotics co-amoxyclav and pipe racillin respectively. The concentration of the antigen in faecal mate rial was calculated to be in the range of 1.2-38.4 mu g g(-1). It is c oncluded that the faecal galactomannan antigen may reach the circulati on in patients with dysfunction of the intestinal mucosal barrier, e.g . BMT recipients, thus leading to diagnostically false-positive antige naemia.