Premium
Depressed CD4/CD8 Ratio in TPHA‐Negative Patients with Syphilis
Author(s) -
Kanda Tsugiyasu,
Shinohara Hiroshi,
Suzuki Tadashi,
Murata Kazuhiko
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1992.tb01669.x
Subject(s) - treponema , syphilis , medicine , hemagglutination assay , immunology , virus , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , titer
The Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA) is a widely used method for screening syphilis. We report our experience with six elderly (age 72.4±8.3 years) patients with syphilis, whose TPHA was negative. Their cardiolipin (RPR) and absorbed fluorescence treponemal tests (FTA‐ABS) were positive. TPHA‐negative patients with syphilis were compared with TPHA‐positive syphilitics by immunological analysis. We found that both the numbers and the percentage of CD4 cells in TPHA‐negative syphilitics were significantly lower than those in TPHA‐positive syphilitics (722±142 vs. 1,064± 141/mm 3 , P<0.01: 35.1±6.9 vs. 48.4±6.4%, P<0.01) and that the ratio of CD4 to CD8 was also lower in TPHA‐negative syphilitics compared with TPHA‐positive syphilitics (1.08±0.46 vs. 2.24± 1.07, P <0.05). These data suggest that the TPHA is insufficient for excluding elderly syphilitics because of immunological impairment seen in aged patients.