Microbiology
Alireza Abdollahi; Samaneh Salarvand; Vahid Mehrtash; Bita Jafarzadeh; Mohammadreza Salehi; Reza Ghalehtaki; Saeed Nateghi
Abstract
Background & Objective: COVID-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been a reference test for diagnosing a disease since the very beginning of the pandemic. COVID-19 serology tests have also been developed and used to estimate the prevalence of individuals who have already ...
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Background & Objective: COVID-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been a reference test for diagnosing a disease since the very beginning of the pandemic. COVID-19 serology tests have also been developed and used to estimate the prevalence of individuals who have already been infected. We aimed to evaluate the performance of serology tests for the diagnosis of patients who had been referred to medical centers with acute symptoms.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 80 individuals suspected of COVID-19 who had been referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran, were examined. Upper respiratory tract specimens for RT-PCR and blood samples for COVID-19 IgM and IgG antibody level tests were collected and the results were compared. Results: The overall proportion in agreement, the agreement between positive results, and the agreement between negative results when comparing RT-PCR and IgM serology test were 40% (kappa = -0.006, P = 0.9), 32%, and 66.6%, respectively, and when comparing RT-PCR and IgG serology test were 46% (kappa = -0.006, P = 0.94), 43.5%, and 55.5%, respectively.Conclusion: The absence of a gold standard method for the diagnosis of COVID-19 makes it very challenging to determine the true sensitivity and specificity of different methods. The study results revealed no agreement between the two methods; so the RT-PCR test for upper respiratory tract specimen cannot be replaced with COVID-19 serology test for the diagnosis of patients with acute symptoms.
Microbiology
Mohammadreza Jalali Nadoushan; Soha Ahmadi; Paniz Jalali Nadoushan
Abstract
As COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, it is an emerging need to discuss different aspects of this pandemic. In any pandemic, valid and rapid laboratory diagnostic tests are critically important for early diagnosis, which will increase the rate of ...
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As COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, it is an emerging need to discuss different aspects of this pandemic. In any pandemic, valid and rapid laboratory diagnostic tests are critically important for early diagnosis, which will increase the rate of successful treatment and more importantly prevent the spread of the disease.
Alireza Abdollahi; Saeed Shoar; Sara Sheikhbahaei; Siroos Jafari
Volume 8, Issue 2 , April 2013, , Pages 81-88
Abstract
Background and Objective: Opportunistic infections are the leading cause of death among patients subjected to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The aim of this study was to compare the seroprevalence of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and toxoplasmosis ...
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Background and Objective: Opportunistic infections are the leading cause of death among patients subjected to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The aim of this study was to compare the seroprevalence of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and toxoplasmosis infection in newly diagnosed HIV infected patients with healthy controls and it’s correlation with CD4+ cell counts (CD4+).
Materials and Methods: A case controlled study was carried out to investigate CMV and toxoplasmosis serology among newly diagnosed HIV infected patients referred to University affiliated hospital in Tehran and compared them to healthy subjects as control. A total of 100 HIV positive patients and 100 healthy controls were recruited. Clinical characteristics and CD4+ cell counts were evaluated. The statistical package SPSS 17 for windows was used for analysis.
Results: Patients with HIV infection had a significantly higher positive serology for CMV than healthy controls (100% vs. 93% P<0.05). There was no significant difference between HIV positive and HIV negative patients in terms of toxoplasmosis serology. There was no significant difference between males and females with respect to CMV or toxoplasmosis serology.
Conclusion: CMV and toxoplasmosis infection are highly prevalent among HIV infected patients and also healthy controls, with a higher seropositive rate of CMV in HIV cases.