The results of a modified Middlebrook-Dubos hemagglutination test in leprosy; 261 cases.

There is continuing interest in the diagnostic potentialities of the hemagglutination test for tuberculosis described by Middlebrook and Dubos in 1948 (6) and modified by Scott and Smith in 1950 (12). This test was initially described as a useful tool to aid the clinician in the diagnosis and management of tuberculosis (9, 10, 12) . Middlebrook's emphasis has been on its usefulness in studying various immunologic processes in relation to tuberculosis. In December of 1950 this hospital supplied sera from 35 lepromatous patients to Dr. Leslie C. Murphy of the Brooke Army Medical Center (8), who was employing the Middlebrook test in diseases other than tuberculosis in an effort to evaluate its specificity. He found titers varying between 1:2 to 1 :512 in the Carville sera. Results of this test in leprosy patients have also been reported by Levine et al. in 1951 and 1952 (4, 5), and by Ahuir et al. of Spain (1). In Japan (3) Tajiri, Kawaguchi, Fukuda, and Arai have also reported on the test in leprosy. The present study was made primarily in order that the results of the hemagglutination test might be recorded in a larger group of leprosy patients than has been tested heretofore. A second objective was to observe any changes in titer which might occur in a small group of patients studied repeatedly during the course of a year, in different stages of the disease process and during various treatment regimens.