Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes a variety of clinical conditions ranging from life-long asymptomatic infection to overt disease with increasingly severe tissue damage and a heavy bacillary burden. Immune biomarkers should follow the evolution of infection and disease because the host immune response is at the core of protection against disease and tissue damage in M. tuberculos...

Current techniques for rapid diagnosis of microbial infections by direct detection of the microbial agent are compared. The techniques include enzyme immunoassay (EIA) tests, immunofluorescence, latex agglutination assays, and nucleic acid hybridization procedures. It is concluded that, for the near future, the preferred methods for rapid diagnosis will be by (1) EIA tests utilizing monoclonal ...

Filariasis displays a wide range of clinical and pathological manifestations, represented by asymptomatic carriers of microfilaria, symptomatic cases of filariasis with or without circulatory microfilaria and extreme cases of elephantiasis. The immunological status of the host is expected to play an important role in the genesis of the different manifestations. Diagnosis of filariasis is still ...

High-affinity monoclonal IgG and IgM antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) have been prepared and their functional capabilities explored by means of solid-phase radioimmunoassays. 125I-labeled HBsAg binding studies indicated that monoclonal IgM antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBs) coupled to a solid-phase support quantitatively bound more HbsAg at a faster rate than conventionally pr...

Host-parasite relationship and immunodiagnostic testing in paracoccidioidomycosis have been extensively investigated in recent years. We review the major advances in the understanding of pathogenesis of the disease with emphasis on the sequential steps in granuloma formation and the envolvement of immunological mechanisms in host defenses against the parasite. In addition, the several immunodia...

An improved assay for the simultaneous assessment of phagocytic uptake (via Immunobeads) and metabolic integrity (via nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) dye reduction) was used to evaluate the neutrophil function in neonates, one year olds, and adults. The unique advantage of this assay is that it offers greater standardization since the beads are commercially available with a known quantity of immuno...