Abstract
Summary
1. The differential sheep cell agglutination test of Rose and his associates was performed with serum specimens from 42 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. Serum from 17 of these patients showed differential agglutination titers of 16 or greater. In 24 active cases of mild and moderate severity and in one inactive case of long duration a differential agglutination titer of less than 16 was obtained.
2. Sera from 88 individuals with a variety of other conditions and from 18 presumably normal persons tested in the same manner showed differential agglutination titers less than 16.
3. Although differential agglutination titers less than 16 were observed in more than half the cases of active rheumatoid arthritis, the test appears to reflect the clinical severity of the disease.
4. These data partially confirm the observations of Rose and his associates but indicate that the differential sheep cell agglutination test is of limited value as an aid in the diagnosis of active rheumatoid arthritis of mild severity.
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