Acute bacterial meningitis in adults – Authors' reply.

J Microbiol Methods 2013;93: 116-20. 5 Samra Z, Shmuely H, Nahum E, Paghis D,Ben-Ari J. Use of the NOW Streptococcuspneumoniae urinary antigen test incerebrospinal fluid for rapid diagnosis ofpneumococcal meningitis. ICTs have also been shownto have considerable benefits over latexagglutination.2 However, some of thelimitations to antigen testing are thatthe sensitivity has varied and mightbe as low as 50%,3-5 it only allows thedetection of one organism, and, ofcourse, will not provide any informationabout antimicrobial susceptibilities. Correspondence We thank Frédéric Jacobs andcolleagues for their interest andcomment on our Seminar aboutacute bacterial meningitis in adults.1As Jacobs and colleagues say,immunochromatographic tests(ICTs) for pneumococcal antigenshave been assessed as a potentialdiagnostic test and do indeed haveutility when molecular methods areunavailable. [Extracted from the article]