Description
This kit is designed to measure antibody responses to pneumococcal vaccines incorporating 23 polysaccharides isolated from Streptococcus pneumoniae.1 These polysaccharides represent approximately 80% of the commonly encountered virulent serotypes. Immunisation with 23-valent vaccines is recommended for elderly patients to reduce death due to pneumonia and for children over 2 years that are at risk of severe life threatening pneumococcal infection.2 The response in 30% of subjects to vaccination with S. pneumoniae is attributable to C- polysaccharide (CPS) antibodies and not to specific anti-PCP IgG. These CPS antibodies confer limited protection against pneumococcal infection; consequently CPS absorption has been incorporated in this assay.3
A patient's antibody response may be evaluated by the serological determination of their IgG anti-PCP antibody levels pre- and post-vaccination using this quantitative enzyme immunoassay. Patients with repeated bacterial infections should be investigated for immunodeficiency and thus inability to respond to specific polysaccharide antigens (review 4,5)