Specificity, sensitivity, and diagnostic value of the TPHA test.

The Treponema pallidum haemagglutination test (TPHA) was first described by Rathlev (1965). The investigations made by Tomizawa and Kasamatsu (1966) and Tomizawa, Kasamatsu, and Yamaya (1969), who introduced an absorbing reagent to remove cross-reacting antibodies, resulted in an improvement of this method and the production of standard antigen and other reagents necessary for the test. The reagents used by almost all these authors were manufactured in the Fuji Zoki Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan. The studies of Cox, Logan, and Norins (1969) led to the development of an auto- mated microhaemagglutination assay (AMHA-TP).