[Comparative study of three technics of inverse passive hemagglutination in the search for a surface antigen of the hepatitis b virus (Ag HBs) (author's transl)].

The following three different versions of reverse passive hemagglutination (RPHA) were evaluated for the detection of HBs antigen: Auscell I - Abbott, WH HBs - Wellcome and the hepanosticon - Organon technique and results obtained were compared with those obtained by the radio immuno assay (Ausria II of Abbott). In 493 sera studied, up to 16,8% were found positive by RPHA as compared to 17,2% positives by RIA. The percentage of false positives by the different methods varied from 4,9 to 7,3. Confirmatory tests, either absorption or neutralization, are necessary to ascertain accuracy of positive results in each of the 3 RPHA methods. The high quality of the Auscell and WH HBs confirmative test allows their sole use although they are slightly less sensitive than the RIA. We would recommand use of the Hepanosticon test whenever positive sera can be confirmed by RIA.