MODERATE SENSITIVITY, HIGH SPECIFICITY, AND LOW POSITIVE PREDICTIVE VALUE OF THE GROUP B STREPTOCOCCAL (GBS) LATEX AGGLUTINATION (LA) ANTIGEN DETECTION TEST

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the GBS LA test prospectively over 3.5 years in a hospital laboratory. Between 4/1/80 and 11/30/83, 869 urine samples and 302 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 1035 patients evaluated for GBS sepsis and/or meningitis were tested by GBS LA. All patients had a blood culture and 302 also had a CSF culture for suspected meningitis. Seventeen patients had culture positive GBS sepsis or meningitis. Thirty-one patients had a positive GBS LA test for GBS antigen. Of these 31, 12 had GBS sepsis and/or meningitis by culture, 13 had GBS surface or gastrointestinal colonization but sterile blood ± CSF cultures, and 6 had no evidence of GBS colonization or infection.

The test had a sensitivity=A/A+C=12/17=71%, specificity= D/B+D=999/1018=98%, and a predictive value of A/A+B=12/31=39%

Conclusion: The low positive predictive value for the GBS LA test made an individual positive test difficult to interpret.

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