Serum Adenosine Deaminase Level as an Indicator of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Activity versus Other Infectious Diseases

We evaluated the association of active pulmonary tuberculosis with level of serum adenosine deaminase in order to have an acceptable rapid test to help the clinicians in the diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis. We measured serum total adenosine deaminase level in three groups:1- Cases of active pulmonary tuberculosis that were confirmed by positive sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli in association with compatible clinical and radiological findings.2- Cases of other infectious diseases including brucellosis, endocarditis, salmonellosis, and meningitis confirmed by clinical findings and related laboratory tests.3- Healthy controls.Serum adenosine deaminase levels were measured before starting the treatment. Data analysis was performed by Chi-Square; ANOVA and LSD tests. The significant level was evaluated for p- value of less than 0.05. We evaluated 51 cases (21 females and 30 males aged 47.7±19 years) of active pulmonary tuberculosis, 11 cases (6 females and 5 males aged 44.7±21 years) of other infectious diseases and 50 cases (14 females and 36 males aged 48.4±11 years) of healthy individuals. Mean serum adenosine deaminase level in pulmonary tuberculosis (42.4±21.5 IU/ml) and other infectious diseases (38.3±23.4 IU/ml) was significantly more than controls (26.6± 8.2 IU/ml), (P<0.0001 and p<0.03 respectively), but the difference between the pulmonary tuberculosis and other infectious diseases was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in age and gender between the above mentioned groups. We conclude that serum adenosine deaminase level increases in infectious diseases but it cannot differentiate pulmonary tuberculosis from other infectious diseases. (Tanaffos