Comparison of immunodiffusion techniques with standard complement fixation assay for quantitation of coccidioidal antibodies.

Quantitative immunodiffusion (QID) and complement fixation (CF) methods were compared for their agreement in detecting coccidioidal antibodies. For these studies, we assayed 719 sera from 181 patients with coccidioidomycosis. Over 60% of the specimens had CF results of 1:2 to 1:256. A total of 43 patients had five or more specimens obtained over periods of between 1 and 8 years. The QID method, as originally performed, agreed within a twofold dilution of the CF titer in 191 of 267 sera (71.5%). Modification of QID by repeated filling of the antigen and serum wells improved agreement to 84.7% (383 of 452 sera). The degree of CF titer change in patients over time periods was more closely matched by the modified than by the original QID method. Discrepancies between the CF and QID methods appeared not to be due to a subpopulation of patients. QID measurement of coccidioidal antibodies may be a useful substitute for the CF assay in certain clinical laboratories.