Comparison of standard tube and microagglutination techniques for determiningBrucellaantibodies

Abstract

SUMMARYA microagglutination method for determining the agglutinating and ‘blocking’ antibodies toBrucella abortusis described. A collection of sera from healthy blood donors in two rural areas of New Zealand were tested by the microagglutination methods and the standard methods in tube. The results are compared and show that where discrepancies occur, these are due to the microagglutination methods being more sensitive. It is concluded that these are suitable methods for screening populations.