[Limitations of passive treponema haemagglutination test (TPHA) in the detection of early syphilis (author's transl)].

The sera from 80 patients with clinical signs of primary syphilis were subjected to fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-abs), TPHA test and cardiolipin reactions (Kline, VDRL, Kolmer). The superiority of the FTA-abs test in screening for early primary syphilis was confirmed, but the TPHA test was less sensitive: the sera of 14 patients were reactive in the FTA-abs test and cardiolipins reactions but not in the TPHA test. The TPHA test alone cannot be relied upon to detect early syphilis; when the FTA-abs test is not performed, it must always be combined with one of the cardiolipin reactions.