Mitchison D A, Aber V R, Ahmad F J, Allen B W, Devi S
Br Med J. 1977 May 28;1(6073):1383-4. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6073.1383.
The agglutination test of Nicholls was found to be ineffective in diagnosing active tuberculosis. A positive result (titre of 1/125 or more) was found in the serum of 74 (70%) out of 105 patients with newly diagnosed, smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis; 61 (62%) out of 98 healthy family contacts; and 19 (63%) out of 30 patients with non-tuberculous conditions. These findings were not due to faulty technique since the results obtained at Hammersmith were similar to those obtained by Nicholls's laboratory in the same serum samples. Twenty-seven of the tuberculous patients who had a negative result before treatment were retested two months after the start of chemotherapy but showed no evidence of a rising titre.
发现尼科尔斯凝集试验在诊断活动性肺结核方面无效。在105例新诊断的涂片阳性肺结核患者中，74例（70%）血清检测结果呈阳性（滴度为1/125或更高）；98名健康家庭接触者中有61例（62%）；30例非结核性疾病患者中有19例（63%）。这些结果并非由于技术失误，因为在哈默史密斯医院得到的结果与尼科尔斯实验室在相同血清样本中得到的结果相似。27例治疗前检测结果为阴性的肺结核患者在化疗开始两个月后重新检测，但没有证据表明滴度上升。
