It is shown by complement fixation studies with protein antigens and specific immune rabbit sera that the rate of fixation of complement is determined by the concentration of antibodies in the immune sera, that the greater part of fixation of complement takes place during the 1st hour, and that fixation is practically completed at the end of 4 hours at ice box temperature. It is further shown t...

The counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) technique was developed as a diagnostic procedure for ram epididymitis caused by Brucella ovis. CIE test results with sera from naturally and experimentally infected male sheep compared favorably with those obtained by gel diffusion and complement fixation employing the same B. ovis surface R antigen. The main advantage of CIE over gel diffusion consists i...

The anticomplement immunofluorescence (ACIF) test was compared with complement fixation and fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen procedures for the detection of antibody to varicella-zoster virus. All of 50 sera from pregnant women contained antibody measured by ACIF (titer, greater than or equal to 1:10); only 27 (54%) were positive by complement fixation (P less than 0.01). For 16 paired ...

The results of a modified Middlebrook-Dubos hemagglutination test in leprosy were reported recently from this laboratory (4). Old Tuberculin 4X Lederle was employed in that test to sensitize the sheep red blood cells. In a series of 261 cases it was observed that titers above those found in controls occurred in 231 cases, or 88.5 per cent. In 1951 Maillard and Gagliardo (1) described a compleme...

In our present issue we publish two articles in which the value of a complement-fixation test in early diagnosis of kala-azar is stressed. The antigen used is that of Witebsky, Klingenstein and Kuhn prepared from the tubercle bacillus, and originally intended for complement-fixation tests in tuberculosis. In tuberculosis, however, the results are very poor. Work in South America, however, revea...