Clinical Information

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is often diagnosed through a combination of clinical history, radiographical imaging, and sputum culture with Gram staining. As S. pneumoniae is the most common bacterial cause of CAP, urine antigen testing may be used as an adjunctive diagnostic method. The BinaxNOW® Streptococcus pneumoniae immunochromatographic  assay may be used to provide more rapid results than bacterial culture.
Joint guidelines published in 2007 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and American Thoracic Society (ATS) recommend pneumococcal urine antigen testing for the management of CAP with the following clinical indications: ICU admission, failure of outpatient antibiotic therapy, leukopenia, active alcohol abuse, chronic severe liver disease, asplenia, or pleural effusion. Pneumococcal urine antigen testing is more sensitive than sputum Gram staining, may be performed on patients unable to expectorate sputum, may be used even after the initiation of antibiotics, and provides a rapid result.