ASPERGILLUS ANTIBODIES – IgM:
Why AspergillusIgM Antibody test?
CLINICAL INFORMATION :
AspergillusIgM Antibodies are useful confirmatory evidence of infection, especially if cultures are negative, while other tests like histology and microscopy are positive. In patients with Aspergillus bronchitis, initially, IgM is tested positive. Hence the confirmation of infection is detected by serum concentration of antibodies. Aspergillosis is an infection caused by a type of mold (spore-forming fungus). Usual causes of this infection are traumatic injury, burns, underlying lung disease like TB or asthma, cyctic fibrosis, inhalation of fungal spore, weakened immune system (chemotherapy, AIDS, cancer - leukemia), patients with higher doses of corticosteroids, etc. generally, this fungus grows on decaying vegetation and dead leaves. In some patients, fungal spores can elicit allergic reactions. Allergic Broncho-Pulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) symptoms include sinusitis, wheezing, fever, chest pain, cough, hematemesis (coughing up blood), shortness of breath, congestion, headache, rhinitis, weight loss, fatigue, and other symptoms can develop (invasive aspergillosis) if the infection spreads from lungs to other parts of the body (metastasis – e.g. kidney, brain, heart, etc) triggering aspergilloma causing vision difficulties, etc, are usually fatal. Complications of untreated invasive aspergillosis can lead to infectious pneumonia, fungal ball (consisting of WBC, fungus, and clots) can cause arterial embolism, etc. Other tests include chest X-Rays, CT Scan of lungs, sputum culture, biopsy, complement-fixing antibody to aspergillin, agar gel double immune-diffusion (AGID), ELISA, Aspergillin precipitin test for IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies, etc.
General instructions:
Sample Requirement: Specimen - Blood sample collected from the vein. Test Preparation: None.
NOTE - Sample for specimen collections may vary based on the patient’s condition/cases according to the patient’s presenting complaints/signs or symptoms:
SPECIMEN REQUIREMENT (Special or Rare Cases) - As instructed and guided by Physician / Clinician / Pathologist / as per Laboratory’s requirements, according to procedures and protocols.
This Multi-Specialty Clinical Referral Laboratory RTDIAGNOSTICS provides precise and accurate tests with an extensive range of testing services to the medical centers to help in the diagnosis and identification of pathology in the test specimens for infectious diseases and also to evaluate the function of organ systems of the patient. It prevents further complications and helps to stabilize and restore health to near normalcy at the earliest without delay.
