Kaolin agglutination test in diagnosis of tuberculosis in Kenya

The kaolin agglutination test (KAT) has been applied in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Kenya, East Africa. The test was positive in as many as 79·2% of tuberculosis patients with a positive sputum, with an antibody titre of from 1/8 to 1/512. No special correlation was found between antibody titre and duration of disease, age, sex and drug sensitivity of Myco. tuberculosis excreted by patients. The control group was made up of people free from tuberculosis, as shown by x-ray and bacteriological examination. Only 22 (15%) out of 143 reacted positively, showing the low range of phosphatide antibody. These results suggest that the phosphatide KAT may be considered as a specific method for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis among African patients. The only surprising result was the high percentage of positives among the healthy tuberculin-negative subjects-a factor worthy of further study and explanation. Because of the technical advantages of the kaolin agglutination test and mainly because of its simplicity, this reaction may be considered a convenient serological method under field conditions; but it requires further investigation before final conclusions can be reached. © 1966.