Evaluation of a rapid assay for identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis grown in solid and liquid media

An MPT64 antigen detection assay, the SD Bioline TB Ag MPT64 Rapid kit, was evaluated for the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis grown in both solid and liquid media. The rapid test showed positive results in 132 of 133 (99.2%) M. tuberculosis cultures grown on Ogawa medium and 136/143 (95.1%) cultures grown in liquid culture medium, resulting in an overall sensitivity of 97.1%. All 18 non-tuberculous mycobacteria were found to be negative by the rapid test, indicating a specificity of 100%. The rapid test seems useful for the initial confirmation of M. tuberculosis in acidfast bacilli positive cultures.

Comparative studies on chick embryo cell rabies vaccine and human diploid cell vaccine: pre-exposure use and purity of the vaccines

Neutralizing antibody responses to commercial Japanese-produced chick embryo cell (CEC) vaccines in Japanese and to commercial human diploid cell rabies vaccines (HDCV) in Filipinos were compared by the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT). Neutralizing antibody titers of the Japanese after subcutaneous (sc) immunization with two doses of the CEC vaccines were not lower than those of the Filipinos with two or three doses of HDCV by intramuscular (i.m.) or intradermal (i.d.) route, respectively. Protein nitrogen content of the CEC vaccine was about 1/300th that of the HDCV. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting analysis showed that non-viral protein content in the CEC vaccine was much lower than that in the HDCV. The CEC rabies vaccine seems to be as safe and effective as the HDCV for human pre-exposure immunization.