COMPARISON OF AN ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY AND A LATEX AGGLUTINATION SYSTEM FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF INVASIVE ASPERGILLOSIS IN BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS

The performance of two Aspergillus antigenemia systems, the sandwich e nzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Platelia Aspergillus test, a nd the latex agglutination (LA), Pastorex Aspergillus test, in the dia gnosis of invasive aspergillosis were compared by testing 364 serum sa mples from 22 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients. Sensitivity and specificity for the ELISA test were 60% and 82% respectively, vs 40% and 94% for the LA test. In the two patients found positive with both methods, the ELISA test became positive earlier than the LA test or re mained positive after the LA test had become negative. These results e ncourage further evaluation of the Platelia Aspergillus test, to asses s its role in the management of invasive aspergillosis in BMT patients .