Reactivity of Treponemal and Nontreponemal Tests with Cerebrospinal Fluid from Syphilitic Chimpanzees

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum collected over a period of approximately four years from four chimpanzees infected with Treponema pallidum were studied. The VDRL slide test, the Treponema pallidum immobilization-200 (TPI-200) test, and several fluorescent-antibody procedures were used in the examination of the spinal fluid. Sera were examined with the VDRL slide and fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABS) tests. None of the animals showed reactivity in the CSF before inoculation. The immunofluorescence techniques usually detected reactivity in the CSF before the VDRL slide test. The TPI-200 test was considerably less reactive with CSF than either the immunofluorescence procedures or the VDRL slide test. Reactivity of the immunofluorescence and VDRL slide tests with the CSF was delayed and weaker than reactivity of these tests with serum. Results suggest that evaluation of the FTA technique with CSF of humans might lead to use of an FTA test in diagnosis of syphilis of the central nervous system of humans.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: