THE MIDDLEBROOK-DUBOS HEMAGGLUTINATION TEST FOR TUBERCULOSIS IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS1

Middlebrook and Dubos (1) described a hemag-glutination reaction designed to detect serum anti-bodies to certain components of M. tuberculosis. Early reports suggested that this test might have valuable clinical applications both in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and in evaluating the activity of the disease (2-7). Subsequent reports on its clinical usefulness have been less encouraging (8-16). Many modifications of the test have been devised in an attempt to make it more specific. These have included more thorough absorption of sera with normal sheep erythrocytes to remove heterophile antibodies (17), the substitution of human Group 0 cells for sheep erythrocytes (18-21), the use of fowl erythrocytes (22), and the use of collodion particles (23). Middlebrook (24) introduced a hemolytic modification which has received considerable study (25-33). A slide ag-glutination test has been used (34). Different products of the tubercle bacillus have been use