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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 1999, p. 3053-3054, Vol. 37, No. 9
Bacterial STD Branch, Division of AIDS, STD,
and TB Laboratory Research, National Center for Infectious
Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
Received 5 April 1999/Returned for modification 6 May 1999/Accepted 4 June 1999
When the flat-bottomed, glass-stoppered, round bottle traditionally
used to make VDRL antigen was discontinued, an appropriate substitute
was needed. Although many laboratories have switched to one of the
other nontreponemal tests for syphilis serology screening, the VDRL
test remains the only approved procedure for testing spinal fluids of
patients with possible neurosyphilis. We tested 25-ml glass-stoppered,
convex-bottomed Erlenmeyer flasks to determine if these could be used
as appropriate substitutes. We tested 52 reactive sera and 54 nonreactive sera by using one reference antigen prepared in the
traditional flat-bottomed bottles and five antigens prepared in the
Erlenmeyer flasks. Results with all serum samples were comparable. We
also tested two lots of a commercial antigen plus an additional lot of
reference antigen. Again there was no difference in the reactivity of
the antigens. Therefore, we conclude that 25-ml glass-stoppered
Erlenmeyer flasks can be used as an appropriate substitute for
glass-stoppered, flat-bottomed, round glass bottles in the making of
VDRL antigen.
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Replacement for 30-Milliliter Flat-Bottomed,
Glass-Stoppered, Round Bottles Used in VDRL Antigen
Preparation
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address:
BSTDB/DASTLR/NCID/CDC, Mail Stop D13, Atlanta, GA 30333. Phone: (404)
639-3224. Fax: (404) 639-3976. E-mail: vxp1{at}cdc.gov.
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