Studies on the Reproducibility and Specificity of the Treponemal Immobilization Test

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Sequeira and Wilkinson examined the behavior of the Treponemal Immobilization Test (TPI) with nonsyphilitic sera to establish the criteria of negativity and its specificity. The conclusions reached are applied to routine sera. The reproducibility of the TPI from a laboratory aspect and in routine use is comparable to that of the STS. While there are as yet insufficient reports of results on non-syphilitic sera for an absolute assessment of specificity, the results so far available indicate that the TPI is highly specific for the treponematoses. It appears likely that a proportion of patients with negative STS and positive TPI may represent a form of latent syphilis.