Summary
We are reporting the case of an 18-month-old girl with a post-pneumonic lung abscess. The counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) of the patient's urine during the bacteremic phase of the disease gave a precipitation line with pneumococcal antiserum. Later in the course of the disease, after the diagnosis of lung abscess had been established, the pus drained from the abscess gave positive reactions with pneumococcal omnivalent serum and type 3 pneumococcal antiserum. At this stage, the pus was sterile and blood cultures were negative. This case demonstrates that the CIE test is a simple procedure which gives a rapid and exact diagnosis up to the serotype level.
Zusammenfassung
Wir berichten über einen postpneumonischen Lungenabszeß bei einem 18 Monate alten Mädchen. Während der bakteriämischen Phase der Erkrankung war im Urin der Patientin mit Gegenstromelektrophorese eine Präzipitationslinie mit Pneumokokken-Antiserum nachzuweisen. Nachdem im späteren Verlauf der Erkrankung ein Lungenabszeß diagnostiziert worden war, fand sich im Abszeßeiter eine positive Reaktion mit omnivalentem Pneumokokken-Serum und mit Pneumokokken Typ 3-Antiserum. In diesem Krankheitsstadium war der Eiter steril, Blutkulturen waren negativ. Der Fall zeigt, daß die Gegenstromelektrophorese ein einfaches Verfahren für eine rasche und bis hin zum Serotyp exakte Diagnose darstellt.
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Hanukoglu, A., Gutman, R., Fried, D. et al. Lung abscess caused by streptococcus pneumoniae type 3. The importance of counterimmunoelectrophoresis in laboratory diagnosis. Infection 12, 85–87 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01641677
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01641677