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Antibodies to pneumococcus in serum
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Pneumococcus ( Streptococcus pneumoniae ) is the most common causative agent of pneumonia. In young children, it can cause meningitis, and in adults, occasionally, sepsis. Laboratory diagnostics of pneumococcal infections is based mainly on bacterioscopic (detection in smears stained by Gram and Romanovsky-Giemsa, gram-positive diplococci with a capsule of more than 10 pairs in the field of vision) and bacteriological (cultural growth of pneumococci in a dilution of 10 5 μl/ml and higher) studies, serological diagnostics plays an auxiliary role.
Serological diagnostics of pneumococcal infection is aimed at identifying the titer of anticapsular antibodies in the patient's blood serum. An increase in the antibody titer after 7-10 days when examining paired sera is considered diagnostic.
Determination of antibodies to pneumococcus is used to diagnose pneumococcal infection in inflammatory diseases of the lungs, serous and purulent meningitis.
RIA and ELISA methods can be used to select patients for vaccination against Streptococcus pneumoniae and to assess its effectiveness.
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