302 Wassermann Reaction for Diagnosis of Syphilis 



the complement remained unfixed and acted upon a few of the 

 corpuscles. 



The Validity of the Test. — The Wassermann reaction is not a 

 certain test for syphilis. It is an aid in making the diagnosis, , 

 especially in cases in which there are no symptoms. 



Of thousands of bloods of normal persons examined, the results 

 are almost loo per cent, negative. Basset-Smith has had a positive 

 reaction in a case of scarlet fever and one in a case Of maUgnant 

 disease of the liver with jaundice; Oppenheim, one in a case of tumor 

 of the cerebellopontine angle; Marburg, one in a similar case; New- 

 mark reports 2 cases of brain tumors with positive reactions; Cohn, 

 a positive in a patient with a cerebral tumor. The Wassermann 



Fig. loi. — A typical positive Wassermann reaction with the recommended 

 controls as it appears after standing twelve hours. Corpuscular sedimentation 

 without hemolysis is seen in tubes, i, 3, and 9; complete hemolysis in the others. 



reaction is of no value for the differential diagnosis of syphihs and 

 framboesia or yaws. All cases of the latter give a positive reaction. 

 Positive reactions have been found in some cases of nodular leprosy, 

 in a few cases of malaria, in some cases of pellagra, and in a good 

 many cases of sleeping sickness. These seem to form the greater 

 part of positive reactions in non-syphilitics thus far recorded. 



In active syphilis Wassermann had 90 per cent, of positive reac- 

 tions in 2990 cases; and most others report about the same. Basset- 

 Smith in 458 such cases found 94 per cent, positive reactions. 



In latent syphilis Wassermann found 50 per cent, positive reac- 

 tions; Basset-Smith, 46 per cent. 



In chronic, presumably syphihtic, disease of the nervous system, 



