Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

FTA-ABS Test

FTA-ABS Test To the Editor.— Burns reported spontaneous reversion of FTA-ABS reactions in patients undergoing preemployment examination. His conclusion was that "serologic tests for syphilis in individuals without physical evidence or history of disease and with negative VDRL and weakly fluorescent FTA-ABS tests should be followed up for about a year before the diagnosis of syphilis is made." In fact, as noted by Dans et al (unpublished data), biologic false-positive results comprise a large percentage of FTAABS reactive sera when such a lowprevalence population is sampled, and the test should not be performed in such patients. When syphilis is suspected, the patient need only be followed up for two to three months. If the VDRL and other treponemal tests remain nonreactive, without any other basis for the diagnosis, the FTA-ABS test should be considered biologically false-positive. In the QUESTION AND ANSWER section (234:975, 1975), a physician reported a patient with varicella and a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

FTA-ABS Test

JAMA , Volume 235 (14) – Apr 5, 1976

FTA-ABS Test

Abstract



To the Editor.—
Burns reported spontaneous reversion of FTA-ABS reactions in patients undergoing preemployment examination. His conclusion was that "serologic tests for syphilis in individuals without physical evidence or history of disease and with negative VDRL and weakly fluorescent FTA-ABS tests should be followed up for about a year before the diagnosis of syphilis is made." In fact, as noted by Dans et al (unpublished data), biologic false-positive results comprise a...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/american-medical-association/fta-abs-test-kGPchWKz7j

References (1)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. Applicable FARS/DFARS Restrictions Apply to Government Use.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.1976.03260400012005
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

To the Editor.— Burns reported spontaneous reversion of FTA-ABS reactions in patients undergoing preemployment examination. His conclusion was that "serologic tests for syphilis in individuals without physical evidence or history of disease and with negative VDRL and weakly fluorescent FTA-ABS tests should be followed up for about a year before the diagnosis of syphilis is made." In fact, as noted by Dans et al (unpublished data), biologic false-positive results comprise a large percentage of FTAABS reactive sera when such a lowprevalence population is sampled, and the test should not be performed in such patients. When syphilis is suspected, the patient need only be followed up for two to three months. If the VDRL and other treponemal tests remain nonreactive, without any other basis for the diagnosis, the FTA-ABS test should be considered biologically false-positive. In the QUESTION AND ANSWER section (234:975, 1975), a physician reported a patient with varicella and a

Journal

JAMAAmerican Medical Association

Published: Apr 5, 1976

There are no references for this article.