(Topley and Wilson, 1946; Stokes et cil, 1945). Because of the technical and intrinsic handi- caps in complement fixation tests especially when large number of ...
WASSERMANN REACTION AND SLIDE MODIFICATION OF MEINICKE'S TEST A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON
10,193
SERA
By T. N. MEHROTRA and N. P. GUPTA From the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology, K. G. Medical College, Lucknow University, Lucknow (India)
The serological tests for syphilis to be of value in diagnosis and therapeutic follow-up should ideally fulfil the strict conditions of specificity and sensitivity. As no test has been found
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE
382 out which satisfies these
requirements attempts
have been continually made to improve upon the older methods in order to obtain maximum specificity and sensitivity. The first and oldest, Wassermann complement fixation test is still It has universally been revery widely used. cognised that a number of variable factors such as hemolytic power and fixability of the complement, complementoid substances and excess of natural hemolysins in sera considerably influence the reaction in complement fixation test. (Berger and Sutherland, 1944; Greval, 1946). The test has been found to be positive in a number of nonsyphilitic conditions (Greval, 1928; Greval, 1940; Greval, and Sen, 1942; Beerman, 1945; Rein and Kent, 1947; Singh, 1949; W.H.O., V.D. Team, 1951), and even in some normal healthy individuals for no obvious The above menreasons (Mohr et al., 1947). tioned factors very frequently vitiate the results which cannot be interpreted with precision in relation to syphilitic infection. A number of tube and slide precipitation tests such as Kahn, Kline, V.D.R.L. and Hinton tests have been introduced to do away with the difficulties frequently encountered in complement fixation test. Though simpler is their- techniques and some of them giving rise to fewer false positive reactions they often show prozone phenomenon which leads to false negative results (Stokes et ah, 1945). Moreover the attempts at increasing the sensitivity of a particular antigen have been at the cost of its specificity (Topley and Wilson, 1946; Stokes et cil, 1945). Because of the technical and intrinsic handiin complement fixation tests especially when large number of tests are to be performed, attempts have been persistently made to find out a rapid slide flocculation test by which it could be possible to sort out positively reacting sera as quickly as possible and later on study them with other standard serological tests. Results of comparative studies with combination of different serological tests have been published by a number of workers (Greval, 1929; Schmid and Velaudapillai, 1951; Kvittengen, 1948; Wahi, 1950). V.D.R.L. microflocculation test using cardiolipin antigen has been given a fairly extensive trial but it has failed to solve the problem (Kvittengen, 1951; W.H.O., V.D. Team, 1951). Moreover V.D.R.L,. test requires clear centrifuged sera which have to be inactivated before the ?performance of the test and the results are not easy to read. With above problems in view a comparative study of Wassermann complement fixation test and slide modification of Meinicke's test was undertaken to find out if the latter could be used as a screening procedure. The results are reported in this paper. caps
Techniques
WASSERMANN REACTION?Method No. 4, Medical Research Committee (1918).
Antigen for Wassermann test was prepared sheep heart muscle in our own laboratory.
from
[July, l95
