Premium
Further Evaluation of a Latex Agglutination Test for Detection of Hepatitis B Antigen
Author(s) -
Perkins H. A.,
Perkins S. L.,
Vyas G. N.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.1974.tb04534.x
Subject(s) - medicine , latex fixation test , antigen , false positive paradox , hepatitis , immunology , hepatitis b , agglutination (biology) , antibody , mathematics , statistics
A latex test for detection of Hepatitis B Antigen (HBAg) has been demonstrated to have sensitivity equivalent to counterelectrophoresis, but an unacceptable frequency of false‐positive results. The false‐positive rate can be reduced to approximately 3 per cent by heating the test serum for 10 minutes at 60 C. The remaining false positives are largely caused by antiglobulin antibodies in the test serum. Although the test is unacceptable for routine HBAg testing in its present form, its speed and simplicity would make it a useful technique for selection of the safer units when fresh blood components must be transfused prior to completion of the more time‐consuming tests.