Table 4

Value of pneumococcal diagnostic tests for the 129 patients diagnosed as having pneumococcal infection

No (%) positive
Diagnostic testSensitivity4-150(%)Sole means
of diagnosis (no of patients)		Prior antibiotics (n=104)No prior antibiotics (n=163)p value
Blood culture9/114 (8)3090.01
Urine antigen694-151/114 (61)3117  (16)52  (32)0.005
Serology78/123 (63)3626 (25)53 (33)0.19
Sputum culture9/73 (12)3180.08
Sputum CIE15/66 (23)34110.3

  • CIE = countercurrent electrophoresis.

  • ↵4-150 Sensitivity = proportion of patients with one or more positive pneumococcal test.

  • ↵4-151 49 were positive at 15 minutes. Of the remaining 20, seven had pneumococcal infection diagnosed by other tests.