[Detection of antibodies to Rickketsia prowazekii by using the antigen neutralization test]

The authors studied a possibility of using the antigen neutralization test with dry immunoglobulin typhus erythrocytic diagnostic agent for the purpose of detection of Rickettsia prowazeki antibodies. Blood sera of 315 healthy persons, 24 patients with sporadic typhus, and 18 laboratory animals immunized with R. sibirica and R. burneti, as well as with Proteus OX19 were examined. The results obtained pointed to the high specificity and sensitivity of the given serological test. A possibility of its use for antibody detection both in the typhus patients and in persons who sustained this infection in the past was demonstrated. In difference from the complement fixation test it permits to study anticomplementary sera.