INCIDENCE OF UNDULANT FEVER

Abstract

To the Editor:— In a letter to the Editor inThe Journal, May 28, 1949, Dr. Frederick Stenn reported the incidence of undulant fever among 100 patients observed in private practice from the stockyards district of Chicago. He observed only 1 person with a positive reaction to an agglutination test and 1 patient with a history of brucellosis. The agglutination test cannot be relied on as the only means for the detection of brucellosis. Several reports have been published indicating the decided variation in the results of the test obtained in different laboratories (Carpenter, C. M., and Boak, R. A.: The Significance of Brucella Abortus Agglutinins in Human Serum, J. Immunol. 17 [July] 1929. Eisele, C. W.; McCullough, N. B., and Beal, G. A.: Discrepancies in the Agglutination Test for Brucellosis as Performed with Various Antigens and as Reported from Different Laboratories, J. Lab. & Clin. Med. 32 , 7 [July]