Medknow Publications on behalf of The Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists (IADVL)
Abstract
Background: Laboratory diagnosis of syphilis is usually accomplished by
serology. There are currently a large number of different commercial
treponemal tests available that vary in format, sensitivity and
specificity. Aim: To evaluate the ID-PaGIA Syphilis Antibody Test as
an alternative to other specific treponemal tests for primary screening
or confirmation of diagnosis. Methods: Serum samples from healthy
adults (n = 100) were used for detection of specificity of ID-PaGIA. To
evaluate sensitivity of ID-PaGIA serum samples (n = 101) from patients
with confirmed or suspected syphilis were tested for syphilis
antibodies with FTA-Abs IgM, ID-PaGIA, ELISA IgM and TPHA tests.
Results: No false-positive results were found with ID-PaGIA.
Sensitivity of various treponemal tests was the following: FTA-Abs IgM:
95.5%, ID-PaGIA and ELISA IgM: 94%, and TPHA 75%. The positive and
negative predictive values of ID-PaGIA were 100 and 89.5%,
respectively. Conclusions: Compared with other treponemal tests
ID-PaGIA has excellent sensitivity and specificity