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LAUGHLEN'S TEST FOR THE SERODIAGNOSIS OF SYPHILIS

1937; American Medical Association; Volume: 108; Issue: 14 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/jama.1937.92780140002008a

2376-8118

F. H. Robinson,

Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment

The serologic diagnosis of syphilis is at present complicated, time consuming and expensive. A rapid, cheap and reliable method of diagnosis is highly desirable. Laughlen 1 has recently described such a method and it is our purpose in this brief communication to report on its use in 1,000 serums taken in a routine manner from hospital patients. In Laughlen's test a drop of reagent is added to a drop of serum or spinal fluid on a glass slide, which is then tilted repeatedly and observed at frequent intervals in an indirect light. The reagent is prepared by adding tincture of benzoin compound, cholesterol, scarlet red and physiologic solution of sodium chloride to an alcoholic extract of beef heart. The reader is referred to the original communication for the exact details of preparation. A positive reaction is recognized by the macroscopic appearance of coarse red particles which rapidly increase in size, whereas