Growth agglutination and growth inhibition tests in the diagnosis of brucellosis.

Growth agglutination and growth inhibition tests were established for the diagnosis of Brucella abortus infection. The former involves the agglutination of living organisms while the latter is a bactericidal test. Using mouse, guinea-pig, rabbit and bovine serum it was shown that the growth agglutination test is approximately ten times, and the growth inhibition test one hundred times, more sensitive than the conventional tube agglutination test. It is suggested that these techniques may be of assistance in diagnosing bovine brucellosis in situations in which the tube agglutination test results are suspected of being falsely negative.