An evaluation of the Behring Diagnostics Enzygnost Syphilis enzyme immunoassay

The Enzygnost Syphilis (Behring Diagnostics, Marburg, Germany) was evaluated (i) using sera already characterised using the rapid plasma reagin test and the Treponema pallidum hemagglutination test (TPHA); (ii) prospectively; (iii) using sera which are recognised as causing "problems" with enzyme immunoassays. The Enzygnost Syphilis was found to have a reproducibility of 98.6% and a sensitivity of 99.5% using sera known to be TPHA-reactive. When tested prospectively, the false reactive rate was 3.2%. These results show that the assay performs sufficiently satisfactorily for its introduction as a screening assay for evidence of syphilis infection in our population.