The value of amoebic serology in an area of low endemicity

One hundred sera from army patients who had had amoebiasis in the past and 113 sera from coloured immigrants attending a venereal diseases clinic were examined by four serological techniques. The indirect haemagglutination and the latex agglutination tests showed almost complete correlation; they are useful epidemiological tools but too sensitive and the antibodies on which they depend are too persistent for clinical use. The indirect fluorescent antibody test is a good clinical screening test, and in an area of low endemicity the gel diffusion precipitin test shows a close correlation with clinical disease.