A Note on the Specificity of Cardiolipin and Standard Antigens in Testing Sera

Comparative serum testing by the Wassermann reaction using cardiolipin and standard antigens was reported by Price and Wilkinson (1950). Test results on 5,124 sera were reviewed and it was concluded that cardiolipin antigen was appreciably more sensitive than the standard antigen (Harrison and Wyler technique), as it detected a higher proportion of cases of early primary syphilis and also remained positive in cases of treated syphilis long after other tests had reverted to negative. In the testing of problem sera sent to the V.D. Reference Laboratory, cardiolipin antigen was more specific than the standard antigen (940 sera tested). In the case of sera obtained from a V.D. clinic and a general hospital this was not apparent. Cardiolipin and standard Wassermann antigens at their optimal titres were used to test 2,876 sera in parallel by Price and Wilkinson (1952), by the Whitechapel technique (Price, 1950). The sera came from three sources: (1) Whitechapel Clinic (1,007 sera); (2) London Hospital (879 sera, of which 424 were from antenatal patients); (3) Other laboratories (990 sera sent to the V.D. Reference Laboratory for investigation).