Precipitating antibodies in mycoplasma infection

Abstract

The effectiveness of counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) for detecting human precipitating antibodies to mycoplasma antigen was compared with the conventional complement fixation (CF) method in a double-blind experiment. Sera (51) from patients suspected of having acute mycoplasma infection were tested by both techniques. Dense precipitin lines to mycoplasma antigen developed in 28 sera with CIEP; 26 of 28 had elevated CF titers to this antigen. No precipitin bands were observed in sera with low antibody titers to mycoplasma. The CIEP test is a specific method for reliably detecting elevated serum CF antibody levels in patients with acute or recent mycoplasma infection.