Serological diagnosis of tuberculosis: a report of 12 months' clinical experience

This study reports the use of an agglutination test as a routine diagnostic aid for tuberculosis. We have found this to be both useful and reliable in clinical practice. The overall reliability was greater than 90%, 13 false results being obtained in the 222 patients tested. False negatives (4) were less common than false positives (9). The major advantage of the test is its speed, serological diagnosis being available overnight as compared with an average of one month for diagnosis by culture.