SENSITISATION PATTERN OF HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS AND TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS TO VARIOUS MYCOBACTERIAL ANTIGENS BY ELISA

Summary; The sensitisation pattern of 39 tuberculosis patients and 21 healthy volunteers to 9 different mycobacterial antigen sonicates was estimated using ELISA. The antibody levels of patients and volunteers were high against M. tuberculosis-7219, M. kanasii and M. scrofulaceurn and low against M. chelonei and M.fortuitum. The tuberculosis patients showed a mean antibody level which was significantly different from that of volunteers to M. tuber culosis-7219, M. kansasii, M. scrofulaceum, M. tuberculosis S.I., M. bovis and PPD-S. With respect to three antigens, namely, M. chelonei, M. fortuitum and M, avium intracellulare, there was no significant difference between patients and volunteers