Limitations of passive treponema haemagglutination test (TPHA) in the detection of early syphilis (author's transl)

The sera from 80 patients with clinical signs of primary syphilis were subjected to fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-abs), TPHA test and cardiolipin reactions (Kline, VDRL, Kolmer). The superiority of the FTA-abs test in screening for early primary syphilis was confirmed, but the TPHA test was less sensitive: the sera of 14 patients were reactive in the FTA-abs test and cardiolipins reactions but not in the TPHA test. The TPHA test alone cannot be relied upon to detect early syphilis; when the FTA-abs test is not performed, it must always be combined with one of the cardiolipin reactions.