The Precipitin Test in Systemic Candidiasis

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Abstract
A selected population of 115 high-risk patients was studied for the correlation of precipitatingCandidaantibodies with systemic candidiasis. Systemic infection was demonstrated histologically in 69 patients. Positive precipitin reactions were found in 72 patients, 65 of which were true-positive and seven of which were false-positive. False-negative reactions were found in four infected patients. Blood cultures forCandidawere positive in only 41% of the positive patients, whereasCandida-precipitating antibodies were found in 94% of the positive cases. Since the predictive value of a laboratory test increases with the prevalence of the disease, the precipitin test should be performed on selected patients with laboratory and clinical data suggesting the possibility of systemic candidiasis. In this study, the sensitivity of the precipitin test was 94%, specificity was 85%, and the predictive value of a positive test was 90%. (JAMA235:628-629, 1976)

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