Specificity of purified protein derivative extracts from ten species of Mycobacteria killed with phenol in the haemagglutination and haemagglutination inhibition test.

The specificity of purified protein derivative (PPD) extracts from 10 species of Mycobacteria killed with phenol was evaluated using the haemagglutinin (HA) and haemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests. The HA test showed many cross-reactions with homologous and heterologous antisera. In the HI test, many antisera cross-reacted with most PPD extracts. The PPD extracts from Mycobacterium foruitum and M. smegmatis were the most specific. It was concluded that PPD extracted from unheated bacilli was not sufficiently specific for use in HI tests.