Clinical and Laboratory Studies of Mumps

Abstract

THE diagnosis of mumps can be confirmed in the laboratory by the isolation of the virus from specimens or by the demonstration of a rise in serum antibodies during the course of the illness. In the latter serologic procedure either hemagglutination-inhibition or complement-fixation antibodies may be measured. The complement-fixation test is more commonly employed, since this technic is performed in most serology laboratories, and there is a commercially available diagnostic antigen. Any of these serologic procedures is of limited value to the clinician, however, since the diagnosis is made retrospectively at a time when the patient is usually completely recovered. . . .