The widely used Wassermann test for syphilis has its faults. If the tested patient has recently been vaccinated, the Wassermann may be "positive" the standard indication of syphilis. It may also be positive if he has any one of a long list of diseases, e.g., chicken pox, measles, malaria, pneumonia, meningitis.
Robert A. Nelson, a young (26) Johns Hopkins bacteriologist, and his co-workers have taken the first steps toward developing a more accurate test than the Wassermann. In the blood of syphilitics, they found specific antibodies (counter-substances) against Treponema pallidum, the spirochete that causes syphilis. Announcement of their discovery caused a...