[Significance of the determination of teichoic acid antibodies in the diagnosis of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia].

Sera of 47 patients with serious Staphylococcus aureus infections, 55 patients with septicemias caused by other organisms and 147 healthy controls were examined for teichoic acid antibodies by ELISA, counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) and immunodiffusion (ID). The specificity and the predictive value of positive results for metastatic-septic complications were 100% each for ELISA, 93%/88% for CIE and 87%/80% for ID. The low sensitivity with all three test methods of 50-60% relates to single sera. The indication for prolonged antibiotic treatment should therefore be derived only from the analysis of consecutive serum samples. With 12% of the controls above the cut-off, the ID test seems not a very good screening test.