Ageing and false positive reactions for syphilis.

Biological false positive reactors for syphilis (BFP) are defined as those patients having reagin demonstrated by positive serological tests for syphilis and non-reactive treponemal antibody tests. Acute biological false-positive reactions (ABFP) terminate in 1 to 6 months. Patients in whom reagin persists longer than 6 months are considered to have chronic reactions (CBFP). Harvey (1962) stressed the high incidence of autoimmune diseases in patients with CBFP reaction, particularly in females. Burch and Rowell (1963) suggested that many aspects of ageing are fundamentally autoimmune in character. The purpose of this paper is to report our studies of the incidence of chronic biological false-positive reactors in an aged population group.