Rapid Tests for Meningitis

Rapid diagnostic tests can detect the major causes of serious bacteria meningitis in body fluids, such as serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), within half an hour.

This Wellcogen range of tests is available from Oxoid (Basingstoke, UK). The latex agglutination tests can provide first-line confirmation of an acute infection of bacterial meningitis in as little as 10 minutes for CSF, slightly longer for serum because of the time needed for blood to clot. This gives guidance to doctors, pending the results of culture investigations, and allows appropriate treatment to be initiated immediately.

The severity of bacterial meningitis and its ability to spread in certain situations was highlighted in China, where an outbreak affected more than 250 people and resulted in at least 16 deaths in January 2005. Authorities there acknowledged that prompt reporting of infection was among the most important measures required to address that outbreak.

The Oxoid tests do not require the presence of viable organisms and can provide a positive result if there is a detectable level of antigen in the sample. The tests can be used to detect neonatal sepsis in addition to childhood and adult meningitis, identifying the main, potentially fatal bacterial strains.

In addition to the separate kits available for each of these significant strains, a combined kit is available for the detection of all five major strains that cause meningitis. Each test kit contains sufficient materials for 30 tests, including control and test latex reagents, positive and negative controls, mixing sticks, and pipettes.




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