DETECTION OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL ANTIBODIES BY GEL DIFFUSION.

A simple method using the Elek-Ouchterlony gel diffusion method is described for the detection of anti-alpha haemolysin and anti-leucocidin antibodies. Two hundred and forty-six sera from patients known or suspected to have staphylococcal infection and 48 normal sera from antenatal cases are included in the survey. It is evident that the gel diffusion method compares favourably with the haemagglutination method for detecting anti-leucocidin. The conventional tube method still has advantages of speed and accuracy in the estimation of anti-alpha haemolysin, as the diagnostic reagent used contains other antigens which confuse the picture in gel diffusion.