The clinical significance of the biological false positive serologic reactor: a study of 113 cases.

Biological false positive serologic reactors were studied during a long-term follow-up of asymptomatic patients with chronic false positive serology for syphilitic reagin. This was done with a view to facilitating the early diagnosis of systemic disease, particularly collagen disorders, which are frequently associated with this finding in women. One hundred and thirteen cases were studied. Thirty-eight were "acute", i.e. positive for less than six months, 58 were "chronic", i.e. positive for more than six months, and the remainder still positive but followed for less than six months. Of 39 female chronic reactors, 10 were diagnosed as having collagen disease, and in six the BFP reaction preceded clinical diagnosis of the disease. Five had no apparent disease. In 19 male chronic reactors, there was no evidence of collagen disorders and five were free of any recognizable pathology. The remainder in both sexes were found to have a wide variety of systemic illnesses.