Heterophilic Interference of Rheumatoid Factor in TSH Immunometric Assay: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.

Introduction: Considering the inherent vulnerability of immunoassays for heterophilic interference and the potential of Rheumatoid Factor (RF) to act as a heterophile-like antibody, we conducted this study to investigate if RF leads to any such heterophilic interference in seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The study was done on the TSH assay as it is a noncompetitive, double antibody sandwich assay, which is known to be vulnerable to heterophilic interference.

Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, eighty-four consecutive newly diagnosed RF-positive RA patients underwent TSH, Free T4, and anti-TPO estimation using the chemiluminescence technique (CLIA) on Siemens Immulite 1000 platform.

Epidemiology of scrub typhus in a tertiary care hospital of Southern Odisha: a cross sectional study.

Purpose: Scrub typhus, is a mite-borne disease caused by bacteria named Orientia tsutsugamushi. In recent years the incidence of scrub typhus is increasing day by day. The disease is easily missed because of low sensitization among clinicians and non-specific clinical manifestation.