Biomedical Research

Tuberculosis is an ancient human scourge that continues to be an important public health problem world wide. The risk of increasing spread of tuberculosis and development of drug resistance make early diagnosis a matter of utmost concern. The significance of serum ADA levels in the diagnosis of tuberculosis is known. However there is hardly any study literature that compares the serum ADA level during the treatment of the disease. Te objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Serum ADA in prognosis of pulmonary tuberculosis at different durations of the therapy in relation with other diagnostic tests of pulmonary tuberculosis. Serum ADA was measured along with other diagnostic markers during the course of treatment. The serum ADA values in the study group was (mean ± SD) 41.48 ± 8.02 U/L and in controls (mean ± SD) of 17.60 ± 5.17 U/L. After the 1st month of treatment there was no significant change(p>0.05) in serum ADA levels 39.60 ± 0.79U/L,however significant difference was recorded after the second month of treatment in serum ADA level 29.66 ± 0.83U/L and similarly at sixth month of treatment 22.12 ± 0.51U/L difference in serum ADA was significantly high. The difference in serum ADA levels between the first month and second month & first month and sixth month were statistically significant. (p<0.001, p<0.001 respectively). The measurement of serum ADA could be of significant help to evaluate the response to the therapy, particularly during second and sixth month. This may have an association with lymphocytic activation.

Author(s): K. Srinivasa Rao, H. Anand Kumar, B. M.Rudresh, T.Srinivas, K. Harish Bhat
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