Rapid Plasma Reagin Card Test for Syphilis and Other Treponematoses

Abstract

strated a test for syphilis that mixed the patient's serum with VDRL antigen contain¬ ing carbon particles that had been dried on plastic-coated white cardboard cards.This test had the advantage of using disposable com¬ ponents and of being performed without lab¬ oratory apparatus except that used for the separation of serum.At Dr. Brewer's request the Public Health Service Venereal Disease Eesearch Laboratory entered into a cooperative agreement with him to evaluate this procedure.Although this test had many attributes of a screening test for syphilis that could be rapidly performed under field conditions, there was an apparent need for a rapid, simple means of collecting and separating blood without cen¬ trifugation, if an ideal field-testing procedure was to be developed.Early testing indicated that VDRL antigen when dried on the cards or in ampules did not possess the desired stability.The rapid plasma reagin test for syphilis with unheated plasma (i,#) or serum {3) had