Suitability of the microagglutination test for detection of post-infection and post-vaccination Q fever antibodies in human sera.

Serological examination by the microagglutination (MA) and complement-fixation (CF) tests of human sera collected before and after vaccination with Q fever chemovaccine revealed a higher sensitivity of the MA test for detecting both pre-vaccination antibodies reflecting a previous exposure to Q fever and post-vaccination antibodies reflecting vaccine immunogenicity. In persons serologically positive before vaccination the level of post-vaccination MA antibody response was indirectly proportional to the titres of prevaccination MA antibodies.