Objective: Cough and fever are the initial symptoms of lower respiratory infection. Severe cases might be fatal. Therefore, particularly in the non-equipped centers, the lack of diagnostic methods to identify the severe cases has resulted in overconsumption of antibiotics. On the basis of the knowledge about non-specific immune response at the site of injury, we developed a colorimetric dip-test that shows abrupt, sensitive and quite specific color change upon contact with sputum in the cases of lower respiratory infection. We further explored the mechanism of the test. Results: We detected deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and hepatocyte growth factor in the sputum of patients that suffered from respiratory infection (n = 18). The results differed significantly (P < 0.0001) from age-matched patients (n = 18) with other respiratory disorders and highly correlated with the index-test results (Spearman Rank test = 0.84). DNA with a concentration more than 0.03 mg/ml induced a visible and stable color change on index-test within 1 min. The test recognized all of the cases with respiratory infection and the specificity was 72%. With a high negative predictive value. The index test detects, inter alia, cell-free DNA in sputum and might safely rule-out respiratory infection in 2/3 of cases that present symptoms of acute respiratory infection.
CITATION STYLE
Ramezani, A., Alipouratigh, M., Eng, L., Turkina, M. V., Lönn, J., Theodorsson, A., & Nayeri, F. (2018). One-minute through test to distinguish lower respiratory infection by analysis of sputum; Exploring the mechanisms. BMC Research Notes, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-018-3771-1
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