Comparison of standard tube and microagglutination techniques for determining Brucella antibodies

A microagglutination method for determining the agglutinating and "blocking' antibodies to Brucella abortus is described. A collection of sera from healthy blood donors in two rural areas of New Zealand were tested by the microagglutination methods and the standard methods in tube. The results are compared and show that where discrepancies occur, these are due to the microagglutination methods being more sensitive. It is concluded that these are suitable methods for screening populations.