SERUM DIAGNOSIS 163 



vical canal. In ilae case of children, however, 

 positive reactions have been known to occur 

 in acute and chronic vulvovaginitis, indicating 

 either that the disease is more severe in chil- 

 dren, with more antibody formation, or that it 

 may reach the cervical canal. 



The administration of Gonococcus Vaccine 

 and Antigonococcus Serum is likely to be fol- 

 lowed by positive reactions. Just how long the 

 antibodies may persist in the blood after a 

 clinical cure has been effected, it is difficult to 

 state: at least from six to twelve weeks' time 

 should be allowed for them to disappear. Fi- 

 nally, it must be emphasized that the complement 

 fixation test has far more positive than negative 

 value from a clinical standpoint. The reaction 

 is highly specific, but there is a limit to its 

 delicacy, so that a negative reaction in urethri- 

 tis does not exclude the possibility of gonococ- 

 cus infection. 



THE WASSERMANN REACTION IN SYPHILIS 



Wassermann, Neisser and Bruck were first 

 to apply the Bordet-Gengou phenomenon to the 

 diagnosis of syphilis. The antigen originally 

 employed, and still preferred by some workers, 



