Products - Infection - CSF diagnostics

CSF diagnostics

Contact our Infectious Disease Product Team for further details and information

Disease information

The evaluation of CSF is done to diagnose acute and chronic inflammatory disease processes of the central nervous systems. Acute CNS infections manifest as:

  • Headache and neck stiffness (meningitis)
  • Meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and meninges)
  • Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain)

CSF infections can be caused by bacteria (such as Borrelia and Treponema pallidum), viruses (HSV, VZV, measles virus, EBV etc.) or parasites (such as Toxoplasma gondii). CSF analysis enables diagnosis of the infections. Moreover, it also allows for diagnosis of non-infectious diseases such as Multiple sclerosis (MS). The presence of intrathecal (within the CSF) antibodies is a specific indicator of MS.

Diagnostic Guidelines

While carrying out assays on CSF to diagnose various CNS infections, it is necessary to differentiate between antibodies that are produced intrathecally from those that migrate from blood to CSF. This is done by comparing pathogen specific antibodies, corresponding classes of immunoglobulins (total IgG, IgM) and albumin content in patient’s serum and CSF. If there’s an infection of CNS, but it has not yet spread to the brain and the blood-CSF barrier is intact, the pathogen specific antibodies in the CSF and serum are same. However, when there is intrathecal production of pathogen specific antibodies, it is measured by a relative CSF to serum quotient (CSQrel). The quotient is calculated from the specific IgG antibodies in total CSF IgG in proportion to specific IgG antibodies in total serum IgG. A quotient of >1.5 is indicative of intrathecal antibody production.

In addition to antibodies, detection of specific chemokines also plays an important role in diagnosing various CNS conditions for example the chemokine CXCL13 in neuroborreliosis. This chemokine is present in the early stage of the disease even before the antibodies against Borrelia are detectable. Thus, CXCL13 determination helps to reduce the gap between infectivity and positivity antibody test and so helps in earlier diagnosis of the disease. Moreover, it helps to differentiate between an acute and past infection and also allows evaluation of treatment response as its levels decrease in response to successful therapy. One thing however to kept in mind is that CXCL13 is also found in other conditions such as CNS lymphoma, HIV and neuro-leus.

CSF diagnostics products

The individual product regulatory statements may vary, please refer to the instructions for use for more information.

wdt_ID Method Parameter Substrate Species/ Antigen
166 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Treponema pallidum (IgG)
167 ELISA Treponema pallidum
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
recombinant antigens
15 kDa, 17 kDa, 47 kDa,
42 kDa (TmpA)
168 EUROLINE EUROLINE Borrelia-RN-AT
(OspC Bg native, OspC Bb native,
OspC Ba native, p39, VlsE Bb separately)
EUROLINE
169 EUROLINE EUROLINE Borrelia-RN-AT
(p18, p19, p20, p21, p58,
OspC (p25), p39, p83, LBb, LBa,
VlsE Bg, VlsE Bb, VlsE Ba separately)
EUROLINE
170 ELISA Borrelia PLUS VlsE
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
whole antigen, detergent extracts of
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto,
Borrelia garinii and Borrelia afzelii
PLUS recombinant VlsE from
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto
171 ELISA Borrelia
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
whole antigen, detergent extracts of
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto,
Borrelia garinii and Borrelia afzelii
172 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Borrelia (IgG)
173 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Borrelia (IgM)
174 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Toxoplasma gondii (IgG)
175 ELISA Toxoplasma gondii
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens of
Toxoplasma gondii
176 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-HSV-1/2 Pool (IgG)
177 ELISA Herpes simplex virus
(HSV-1/2 Pool)
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens
from HSV-1 and HSV-2
178 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Cytomegalovirus (IgG)
179 ELISA Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens
from CMV
180 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Rubella virus (IgG)
181 ELISA Rubella virus
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens,
strain "HPV-77"
182 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Measles virus (IgG)
183 ELISA Measles virus
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens
from Measles virus
184 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-Mumps virus (IgG)
185 ELISA Mumps virus
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
native antigens,
strain "Enders" (ATCC VR-106)
186 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-VZV (IgG)
187 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-TBE virus Vienna (IgG)
188 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-TBE virus (IgG)
189 ELISA CSQ pair of controls
anti-TBE virus (IgM)
190 ELISA TBE virus
antibody determination in CSF
antigen-coated
microplate wells
TBE viral proteins
(strain "K23")
Method Parameter Substrate Species/ Antigen
Contact our Infectious Disease Product Team for further details and information
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