Lack of diagnostic utility of 'febrile agglutinin' screens

The value of screening for febrile agglutinins was assessed for a one-year period at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Indiscriminate ordering of the screen, lack of information regarding normal and abnormal ranges of titers for each antigen, common biological false positives, and increasing rarity of the diseases sought all detract from the potential value of the screen. No cases were found in which the FA screen clearly contributed to a diagnosis.