Serum immunoglobulin levels in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and patients with Klebsiella infection.

Serum immunoglobulins levels were determined in 42 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis as a prototype of chronic infection and 41 patients with Klebsiella infection representing acute infection, using a radial immunodiffusion technique. The mean serum concentration of IgG, IgA and IgM of the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (1980 +/- 688, 314 +/- 152 and 222 +/- 123 mg/dl, respectively) were found to be significantly higher than normal control levels (P less than 0.005). The mean serum IgG, IgA and IgM concentration of the patients with Klebsiella infection (1102 +/- 340, 287 +/- 133 and 168 +/- 105 mg/dl, respectively), were also higher than normal levels but only IgM level differed significantly from the normal control levels (P less than 0.05). The difference in serum IgG and IgM between the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and Klebsiella infection was statistically significant (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.05, respectively). These findings reflect the polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia found in chronic infections, on the one hand, and the rise of IgM of the primary immune response in acute infection, on the other.