An evaluation of the usefulness of Staphylococcus aureus serodiagnosis in clinical practice

Excerpt

The measurement of serum antibodies to Staphylococcus aureus has been used in the diagnosis of individuals with suspected deep-seated infection, particularly when culture is difficult or unproductive. The Health Protection Agency (HPA), UK, currently offers testing to detect antibodies to alpha haemolysin (staphylolysin) and the nuclease enzyme in parallel. However, a lack of high specificity and sensitivity of the anti-staphylolysin test has been demonstrated repeatedly in occult S. aureus infections [1‐3], whilst there is little information on the usefulness of the anti-nuclease test. It is understood that serological tests, even in combination, are an imperfect marker of staphylococcal infection. It is unclear whether staphylococcal serological testing is useful in clinical practice. …