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The fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test is a diagnostic test for syphilis.Using antibodies specific for the Treponema pallidum species, such tests would be assumed to be more specific than non-treponemal testing such as VDRL but have been shown repeatedly to be sensitive but not specific for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
The rapid plasma reagin test (RPR test or RPR titer) is a type of rapid diagnostic test that looks for non-specific antibodies in the blood of the patient that may indicate an infection by syphilis or related non-venereal treponematoses. It is one of several nontreponemal tests for syphilis (along with the Wassermann test and the VDRL test).
The particles aggregate to form clumps when the patient serum is positive for syphilis. In other words, the patient's serum contains antibodies to T. pallidum. A negative test shows no clumping of gelatin particles. This is a type of specific treponemal test for syphilis. [citation needed] A similar specific treponemal test for syphilis is the ...
There are a number of treponemal-specific tests such as the fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption test, T. pallidum hemagglutination assays , and the microhemagglutination assay . [citation needed] The MHA-TP is used to confirm a syphilis infection after another method tests positive for the syphilis bacteria.
Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum is a spiral-shaped, Gram-negative, highly mobile bacterium. [11] [22] Two other human diseases are caused by related Treponema pallidum subspecies, yaws (subspecies pertenue) and bejel (subspecies endemicum), and one further caused by the very closely related Treponema carateum, pinta.
Penicillin can inhibit T. pallidum in 6–8 hours, though the cells still remain in lymph nodes and regenerate. Penicillin is not the only drug that can be used to inhibit T. pallidum; any β-lactam antibiotics or macrolides can be used. [64] The T. pallidum strain 14 has built-in resistance to some macrolides, including erythromycin and ...
Additionally these tests may show false-negative when the patient's antibody titer is very high due to a hook effect (also called a prozone effect). Because of the issues with false positives, confirmation with a second treponemal test that is specific for T. pallidum antibodies is recommended. [5] [6]
Neurosyphilis is the infection of the central nervous system by Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted infection syphilis.In the era of modern antibiotics, the majority of neurosyphilis cases have been reported in HIV-infected patients.