Cryptococcal Antigen Lateral Flow Assay（CrAg LFA）

Unlike other cryptococcal antigen diagnostics on the market, the CrAg LFA has excellent sensitivity across all four serotypes of Cryptococcus, including C. gattii.

Name：Cryptococcal Antigen Lateral Flow Assay(CrAg LFA)
REF：CR2003
Size: 50 Tests
Brand: IMMY
Origin: US

PROCEDURE: 5-EASY STEPS WITH NO SPECIMEN PRETREATMENT

Key Advantages of the CrAg LFA:

● 10 minute test time | 1 minute tech time

●  No specimen pretreatment

◦ No boiling (CSF)

◦ No Pronase™/Protease™ (serum)

●  2 year shelf life | Room temperature storage | Condensed packaging

●  Internal control line eliminates costly external control requirement

●  Qualitative and semi-quantitative results

●  As easy as a home pregnancy test

●  Only product FDA-cleared for both C. neoformans and C. gattii

Guidelines & Recommendations

WHO Guidelines

Guidelines for the diagnosis, prevention and management of cryptococcal disease in HIV-infected adults, adolescents and children  March 2018

The recommendation for the preferred use of a rapid cryptococcal antigen assay in CSF, serum, plasma or whole blood (depending on access to lumbar puncture) was based on the much higher sensitivity and specificity of these rapid cryptococcal antigen assays versus the India ink test and the fact that these rapid assays depend less on the health provider's skills. The enzyme immunoassay was not included as a recommended cryptococcal antigen assay because of cost and laboratory infrastructure requirements for its use. For rapid cryptococcal antigen assays, the lateral-flow assay has several advantages over the latex agglutination assay: it has a rapid (<10 minutes) turnaround time, requires little training for use and interpretation and can be performed with minimal laboratory infrastructure and without refrigerated storage. 

CDC Recommendations

A new “dipstick” test for detecting cryptococcal antigen is simple to use on a small sample of
serum (a component of blood). The test accurately detects both early and advanced cryptococcal
infections more than 95% of the time. In addition, the test is inexpensive, and the results are ready
 in just 10 minutes. Using this test, targeted screening is a cost-effective approach to prevent deaths
from cryptococcal meningitis. 

Clinical significance

● Screening and early diagnosis of cryptococcal infection

● Diagnosis can be achieved 22 days in median before the onset of clinical symptoms

● Guide clinical rational medication, reduce the cost of patient treatment

● Dynamic monitoring of cryptococcal antigen, pharmacodynamic evaluation and prognosis

Read more： https://www.immy.com/crag