Skip to main content
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1968 Sep;21(5):631–634. doi: 10.1136/jcp.21.5.631

Horse agglutinins in infectious mononucleosis

III Criterion for differential diagnosis

C L Lee 1,2, F Zandrew 1,2, I Davidsohn 1,2
PMCID: PMC473877  PMID: 5697368

Abstract

One hundred infectious mononucleosis and the same number of non-infectious mononucleosis sera were studied to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of horse erythrocytes in the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis. Titres of horse agglutinins in infectious mononucleosis sera ranged from 28 to 7,168 with a geometric mean of 550, whereas the corresponding sheep agglutinin titres ranged from less than 7 to 3,584, with a geometric mean of 126. Horse agglutinin titres of non-infectious mononucleosis sera ranged from less than 7 to 896, with a geometric mean of 59.

Infectious mononucleosis sera tested with horse erythrocytes before and after absorption with guinea pig kidney and beef erythrocytes showed patterns different from those of non-infectious mononucleosis sera, even when sheep agglutinin titres were too low for satisfactory evaluation.

After absorption with guinea pig kidney, horse agglutinin titres of infectious mononucleosis sera were uniformly higher than in the corresponding serum absorbed with beef erythrocytes. This was not the case for non-infectious mononucleosis sera.

Results confirm our previously expressed view that horse erythrocytes are preferable to sheep erythrocytes in the serological diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis.

Full text

PDF
631

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Beer P. THE HETEROPHILE ANTIBODIES IN INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS AND AFTER THE INJECTION OF SERUM. J Clin Invest. 1936 Nov;15(6):591–599. doi: 10.1172/JCI100811. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Lee C. L., Davidsohn I., Panczyszyn O. Horse agglutinins in infectious mononucleosis. II. The spot test. Am J Clin Pathol. 1968 Jan;49(1):12–18. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/49.1.12. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. WILKINSON P. C., CARMICHAEL D. S. IMMUNOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND SEROLOGIC BEHAVIOR OF ANTIBODIES AGAINST RED CELLS IN INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS. J Lab Clin Med. 1964 Oct;64:529–539. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES