Serum immunoglobulins in pulmonary tuberculosis in

Mycobacterium tuberculosis usually excites cellular as well as humoral antibody response in the host (LuRIE, 1950; 1964; PAVJ~ETT et al., 1958). Owing to the various antigens in the organism, attempts to determine the exact nature of the tubercle antigen and chemically characterise it with a view to possible serological diagnosis of tuberculosis has not yielded consistent results, (PEPYS et al., 1959; KmCKER and LA BORDE, 1964). PUELMA et al. (1965) demonstrated considerable serum,.~-globulin crease in patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis with an inversion of the albumin/globulin ratio which reverted to normal following clinical, radiological and laboratory evidence of recovery. Employing a combination of serum fractionation and precipitin tests, ALLERHAND and ZITRIN (1962) detected antibodies in the ~-2 and ~,-globulin fractions of human tuberculosis sera. FAHEY (1965) reported that only the IgG was elevated in the sera of Caucasians uffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, although the number of patients tudied was not given. The present study was undertaken to determine the quantitative patterns of three immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) in the sera of Nigerian patients uffering from activ