The VDRL tube flocculation test; a microflocculation test for syphilis using cardiolipin-lecithin-cholesterol antigen.

In an earlier paper in this Journal (Vogelsang, 1947), a new microflocculation test for syphilis described by Harris, Rosenberg, and Riedel (1946) was compared with the Wassermann reaction, the Kahn standard test, and the Meinicke clarification test in 5,556 sera. The test was found to be very useful in the diagnosis of syphilis, having a satisfactory sensitivity and a good specificity. Harris and others (1946) and other authors have referred to the test as the VDRL Slide Flocculation Test-an abbreviation of the name of the laboratory in which it was devised-the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory, U.S. Marine Hospital, Staten Island 4, New York, which has since changed its address to the Communicable Diseases Centre, Chamblee, Georgia, U.S.A. In conformity with current practice in other flocculation tests, Vogelsang (1947) ventured to call this new test the Harris slide test in token of the discoverer, but as other investigators of this slide test subsequently used the original name (VDRL slide flocculation test) we, in this communication, have maintained the use of the authors' primary designation for the new macroflocculation test described by Harris, Rosenberg, and Del Vecchio (1948a, b) and called the VDRL Tube Flocculation Test. This new macroflocculation test is based on the VDRL slide flocculation test, and utilizes the same reagents as the slide test. The VDRL tube flocculation test has been carried out at Gade's Institute on 15,416 sera, in parallel with the three tests employed as a matter of routine, viz., the Wassermann reaction (WR), a complementfixation test using cardiolipin-lecithin-cholesterol antigen (c.l.c.) and the Meinicke clarification test. A short account of the results obtained is given in this communication.