Hemagglutination Assay Kit Diagnoses and Monitors Treatment of Syphilis

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 12 Jul 2011

Image: ASI TPHA kit (photo courtesy of Arlington Scientific).

Image: ASI TPHA kit (photo courtesy of Arlington Scientific).

A fast, reliable hemagglutination assay aids in detecting, diagnosing, and monitoring the treatment of syphilis.

The Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPHA) test is a qualitative and semiquantitative hemagglutination test for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies to Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis in human serum and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) plasma. Serum is the sample of choice and any repeat or confirmatory testing must be done with serum.

The syphilis testing kit, a product of Arlington Scientific, Inc. (ASI; Springville, Utah, USA) contains 100 tests per vial and includes liquid controls. It does not need reconstitution and has up to 18-month shelf life (from date of manufacture). Two levels of controls are included: reactive, and nonreactive.

Blood tests for syphilis are divided into nontreponemal and treponemal tests. Nontreponemal tests are used initially and include venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR). Positive results are often confirmed with a treponemal test such as TPHA or fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-Abs). ASI manufactures RPR, TPHA, and VDRL test kits and the ASiManager-AT, a digital agglutination card reader.

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