COMPLEMENT FIXATION IN SYPHILIS 431 



For a more complete description of the technique the student 

 should read Supplement No. 11 issued in June, 1940. 



Kilduffe's Ten Basic Principles in Serolog-ical Diagnosis. — In 

 regard to tlie present status of the serological diagnosis, Kilduffe* 

 (1933) discusses ten basic principles which he regards as impor- 

 tant. His observations are Avorthy of serious consideration and 

 are summarized as follows : 



"1. The diagnosis of syphilis, however achieved, should l)e 

 surrounded by every ])ossible safeguard, regardless of the time, 

 the labor, the ex])ense of the minutiae involved. 



"2. The diagnosis of syphilis should be based upon a careful, 

 well-balanced consideration of all the data, however obtained, 

 rather than predicated solely upon one or two isolated particu- 

 larized facts or findings. 



"3. A careful and intelligent stud}^ of syphilis is hnpossible 

 without eonstant recourse to laboratory avenues of investigation, 

 especially serological studies. 



"4. Laboratory procedures nuist be regarded solely as con- 

 stituting a single phase in the examination of the patient, 



''5. A joint and interlocking responsibility rests upon both 

 serologist and clinician entitling each to demand somewhat of 

 the other and obligating both to a joint obligation of their com- 

 bined resources in the interest of the patient. ' ' 



6. He states that in his opinion the Kolmer complement fixation 

 test (quantitative) is one of the most valuable laboratory pro- 

 cedures available, ' ' but it must be said that this applies only when 

 the method is used as described without distortion of its principles 

 or evasion or omission of its essential minutiae. 



"7. So great is the practical specificity of precipitation tests 

 under })roperly controlled conditions, that they may be accepted 

 as valuable additions to the serological study of syphilis, and 

 as useful, if not essential, adjuncts to the complement fixation test. 



"8. While both the complement fixation and the precipitation 

 reaction are biologically nonspecific, they possess, nevertheless, 

 an extraordinary degree of practical specificity when properly per- 

 formed under carefully controlled technical conditions, so much 

 so, that positive reactions are consistently encountered in only one 

 disease other than syphilis, namely yaws. 



♦Kikluffe: Am. J. Clin. Path. 3: 61, 1933. 



