complement-fixation test

[kom-pluh-muhnt-fik-sey-shuhn]

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. a test for diagnosing an infectious disease by detecting the presence of antibody in the blood, based on the fixing of a known quantity of complement to the antigen being tested and the specific antibody that combines with it. CFT

complement fixation test

noun

1. med a serological test for detecting the presence of a specific antibody or antigen, used in the diagnosis of syphilis, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of complement fixation test¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Diagnosis.—When there is doubt as to the diagnosis, the mallein test, the inoculation test, or the complement-fixation test may be employed.

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The complement-fixation test is a highly specialized laboratory test and can be carried out only by one versed in laboratory technique.

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Diagnosis.—The complement-fixation test furnishes by far the most reliable means of diagnosis and is especially valuable in a chronic affection of this character, when the symptoms manifested are variable and frequently so obscure as to escape observation.

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What we call the complement-fixation test, which is a blood test for gonorrhea similar to the Wassermann blood-test for syphilis, must be negative.

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