USE OF TURKEY RED-BLOOD-CELLS IN THE PASSIVE HEMAGGLUTINATION TEST FOR STUDYING TETANUS IMMUNITY

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 61  (2) , 331-338
Abstract
Passive hemagglutination (HA) assays were performed using turkey red blood cells (TRBC-HA) on sera from normal healthy people, from normal people previously immunized against tetanus and from tetanus patients receiving human antitetanus Ig. The TRBC-HA test was compared with hemagglutination assays using sheep red blood cells (SRBC-HA) and with the neutralization (NT) test; it was more sensitive than the SRBC-HA test and showed good correlation with the NT test. While the SRBC-HA assay calls for adsorption of sheep red blood cell agglutinins from the sera to be tested, the use of turkey red blood cells does not require any such adsorption. The TRBC-HA assay can be performed in 40 min compared with 6 h for the SRBC-HA assay. These advantages make the TRBC-HA assay a more useful test for screening large numbers of sera in the evaluation of tetanus immunity of normal people and of patients with wounds when seen in the emergency room of hospitals.