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. 1980 Feb;56(1):12–16. doi: 10.1136/sti.56.1.12

Recent observations on the serology of syphilis.

A Luger, B Schmidt, I Spendlingwimmer, F Horn
PMCID: PMC1045718  PMID: 6989443

Abstract

Routine screening of 404 742 sera by the automated micro-haemagglutination assay (AMHA-TP) and the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test showed that 9848 specimens gave a reactive result to one of the three assays. Reactive results were confirmed by the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test. The possibility of false-positive results varied from 0.04-0.38% of all specimens or from 1.7-15.7% of reactive sera. The VDRL test failed to detect reactivity in 56.54% of sera from patients who had previously been infected with Treponema pallidum. The importance of routine testing by the AMHA-TP is illustrated by the detection of four patients with mesaortitis and two with active neurosyphilis among a selected group of 54 patients who had non-reactive results to the VDRL test. Testing of cerebrospinal fluid specimens by the AMHA-TP test produced more specific results than by the other two tests.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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