Comparative study of the sensitivity and specificity of dried and liquid meningococcal erythrocyte diagnostic agents A, C and Y in a controlled trial

The comparative study of the sensitivity and specificity of dried and liquid meningococcal erythrocyte diagnosticums A, C and Y has been carried out in the indirect hemagglutination test with the sera of persons immunized with different doses of dried chemical meningococcal (group A) polysaccharide vaccine and persons receiving placebo under the conditions of a controlled epidemiological trial. The possibility of using, on principle, both liquid (A, C) and dried (A, C, Y) preparations in clinico-epidemiological studies has been established. The continuation of the research work aimed at the improvement of meningococcal diagnosticums and, in particular, at the development of polyvalent preparations seems to be justified.