Positive Complement Fixation Test Research Articles

MYELITIS OCCURRING IN THE PRIMARY AND IN THE SECONDARY STAGE OF SYPHILIS

Acute myelitis is rarely seen in early syphilis; therefore, when it occurs immediately after treatment with the arsenicals, the possibility of a toxic involvement of the spinal cord as well as a syphilitic myelitis must be considered. Involvement of the nervous system in the early stages of syphilis has been reported by various authors. Wile and Stokes 1 found that the spinal fluid in primary or secondary syphilis frequently showed a lymphocytosis, increased albumin and globulin content and a positive complement-fixation test. These observations were not accompanied by paralysis and indicated merely meningeal irritation. Reactions to arsphenamine affecting the nervous system manifest themselves in various forms. Morton 2 classified them as follows: Nitritoid Crisis. This condition is a manifestation of anaphylaxis occurring during the administration of the drug. Arsenical Poisoning. The symptoms of this condition occur within a few hours after the administration of arsphenamine and consist of a chill,

Biological Tests for Hydatid Disease

SummaryIn a series of 106 cows both the intradermal and complement fixation tests for hydatid disease were done to compare their relative values. These tests were checked by examination of the organs after slaughtering.Of 44 cows in which hydatid cysts were found, 38 or 86.3 per cent had a positive skin test, and 26 or 59 per cent had a positive complement fixation test.There were eleven false positive skin tests and ten false positive complement fixation tests. The rest of the series agreed with the findings in the organs.One of the two tests was positive in all of the cows in which hydatid cysts were found.

COMPLEMENT FIXATION TESTS IN TUBERCULISIS

In scanning the literature on complement fixation for tuberculosis, one is astonished at the number of substances used as antigen for this test and the great diversity of results obtained, some authors asserting only a 50 per cent. efficiency for the test, and others that the test even outclasses the Wassermann reaction, with 95 or more per cent. positive reactions in active cases. Some are so bold in their contention as to hold a positive complement fixation test as an indication of the presence or absence of tuberculosis which requires treatment against all other findings. There seems to be no uniformity in the findings and contentions of any two observers, owing probably to the facts that each observer is working with his own new antigen, and that only a few go far enough into the work to compare a number of different antigens. Elizabeth Fraser¹stands out preeminently as

The Complement Fixation Test after Prophylactic Typhoid Immunization and a Comparison with the Agglutination Test

Summary In contrast with the strong agglutination test, a positive complement fixation test after prophylactic typhoid immunization is not as regular an occurrence, as it is during or after typhoid fever. This point may be of aid in deciding for or against the diagnosis of typhoid fever in an inoculated individual still having a positive Widal and ill with a suspicious typhoid but negative blood culture. A positive complement fixation test was obtained most often after three injections with a polyvalent vaccine; two injections with this same vaccine or three injections with the single strain vaccine (Rawling) gave hardly any complement fixation.