The Complement Fixation Test in Relation to the Gonococcus and Allied Organisms

Abstract

The work described in this paper was commenced in 1926 in order to demonstrate whether or no infections with the M. catarrhalis afford positive reactions with gonococcal antigens. It had already been shown that an antigen of M. catarrhalis might react with the sera from gonococcal infections. Later it was decided to investigate aberrant forms of M. catarrhalis and allied organisms and also to test whether sera which react very strongly to the Wassermann reaction might also react non-specifically to the Gonococcal Complement Fixation test, possibly to such a degree as to detract from the value of the latter. Such a non-specific reaction might be of the nature of a group fixation (the Wassermann being not anti-spirochactal but probably anti-lipoidal), or to adventitious substances introduced in the preparation of the gonococcal extracts from cultures derived from patients with secondary syphilis.