Comparison of three serological methods for the detection of hepatitis-associated antigen.

Serum hepatitis (Australia) antigen in the sera of hepatitis patients and carriers can be detected in one and a half to three hours by crossover electrophoresis. The method is more sensitive than the immunodiffusion technique commonly employed in this field. It is of the same order of sensitivity as complement fixation but is less complicated.Crossover electrophoresis is thus the method of choice for the rapid screening of sera for hepatitis antigen; complement fixation may be used for quantitative determination of antigen in positive cases.