Wassermann test
n.
A diagnostic test for syphilis involving the fixation or inactivation of a complement by an antibody in a blood serum sample.
[After August von Wassermann (1866–1925), German bacteriologist.]
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A diagnostic test for syphilis involving the fixation or inactivation of a complement by an antibody in a blood serum sample.
[After August von Wassermann (1866–1925), German bacteriologist.]
A diagnostic test for syphilis involving the fixation or inactivation of a complement by an antibody in a blood serum sample.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a blood test to detect syphilis; a complement fixation test is used to detect antibodies to the syphilis organism treponema; a positive reaction indicates the presence of antibodies and therefore syphilis infection
Synonyms: Wasserman reaction, Wassermann
The Wassermann test is a complement-fixation (Complement system)
A sample of blood or cerebrospinal fluid is taken and introduced to the antigen - cardiolipin extracted from bovine muscle or heart. Syphilis-specific antibodies (reagines) react with the lipid - the Wassermann reaction of antiphospholipid antibodies (APAs). The intensity of the reaction (1, 2, 3, or 4) indicates the severity of the condition.
The reaction is not actually specific to syphilis and will produce a positive reaction to other diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, and numerous other diseases. It is possible for an infected individual to produce no reaction and for a successfully treated individual to continue to produce a reaction (called Wassermann fast or fixed).
The antibody test was developed by Wassermann and Albert Neisser at the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases in 1906.[1][2] The test was a growth from the work of Bordet and Gengou on complementing-fixation reaction, published in 1901, and the positive reaction is sometimes called the Bordet-Gengou-Wassermann reaction or Bordet-Wassermann reaction.
The Wassermann test has been refined - Kahn test, Kolmer test - and it is rarely used today. Replacement tests (VDRL test, RPR test), initially based on flocculation techniques (Hinton), have been shown to produce far fewer false positive results. Indeed the "biologic false positives" of modern tests usually indicate a serious alternate condition, often an autoimmune disease.
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