Use of hemolysis in gel in the serodiagnosis of rubella. Comparison with hemagglutination inhibition

: The hemolysis in gel test (HIG) was compared with the hemagglutination inhibition test (HI). This new test is simple and time-sparing since it does not require dilution or serum pre-treatment, and can be measured directly in mm. It is not more expensive than the HI method. It has proved sensitive and is not affected by non specific serum hemagglutination inhibitors and is conclusive whenever HI titers are looked upon with suspicion (titers of less than 1/20). It is therefore well adapted to mass screening of immunity against rubella but in the field of recent infections HI method still has its role to play. Using the HIG test as a reference, we measured the loss of Ig to rubella following the three most commonly employed methods for removal of inhibitors: the mean values of 16 sera were 25% of antibodies lost after kaolin pre-treatment, 62% lost after heparine-Mn-Cl2 procedure 75% lost after dextran-CaCl2 treatment.