SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

Talamomycosis is an invasive mycosis which is originated from dimorphic fungus Talaromyces marneffei, highly invasive in Southeast Asia. It primarily affects patients with advanced HIV diseases and is one of the leading causes of death for HIV. The infection can remain in individuals inactivated for years and can eventually evolve causing diseases that affect lungs, liver, blood, skin, and bone marrow. The standard method of diagnosis for this fungus is culture, however, it takes up to two weeks to generate results and produce data for treatment. To address this issue, this retrospective case-control study investigates the accuracy of two different diagnostic methods. Both approaches involve a novel Mp1p antigen-detecting enzyme immunoassay (EIA) tested on stored urine and plasma of HIV and non-HIV individuals. All samples were obtained from participants between 2011 and 2017 in Vietnam and Duke Hospital. Of the cases studied, the results for specificity and sensitivity were highly comparable for plasma in both samples. The Hong Kong EIA showed higher specificity of around 95%-96% for the urine samples. Both Mp1p EIA are highly specific and superior in sensitivity as well as tome of diagnosis in comparison to other studies. The commercial EIA is more available to use in other samples such as urine, while the Wantai home-brew is more specific for plasma. Being able to test for both plasma and urine introduces a new tool for effective and faster diagnosis allowing patients to have access to earlier treatment.