Serum electrophoretic pattern in osteoarticular tuberculosis.

A serum electrophoretic study was carried out in 37 established osteoarticular tuberculosis cases. The result of this study has been analysed according to severity and chronicity and also after treatment, including certain streptomycin-resistant cases. It has been observed that there was a decrease in albumin and an increase in Alpha2 and gamma-globulin fractions of serum protein as the disease became more advanced and chronic in nature. The administration of known antitubercular drugs reverses this phenomenon. The resistant cases revealed an increase in gamma-globulin fraction at almost the same level as observed in the untreated cases.