Appraisal of the Treponema pallidum haemagglutination test.

Several attempts have been made to use haemagglutination reactions for the diagnosis of syphilis between 1932 and 1958. The first reliable method was developed by Rathlev (1965). Further results of investigations with this method have been reported by authors from Japan and from the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory in Atlanta, U.S.A. Rathlev prepared the reagents for the test in the Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen, Denmark, but the other investigators used reagents obtained from Fujizoki, Tokyo, Japan. This paper presents the first results of the TPHA test obtained in the Serodiagnosis Laboratory at the Department of Dermatology in the Vienna City-Lainz Hospital.