Schick test

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2006)

A boy receives an injection of diluted toxin for the Schick test in 1915.

The Schick test, invented between 1910 and 1911, is a test used to determine whether or not a person is susceptible to diphtheria. It was named after its inventor, Béla Schick (1877–1967), a Hungarian-born American pediatrician. The test is a simple procedure. A small amount (0.1 ml) of diluted (1/50 MLD) diphtheria toxin is injected intradermally into the arm of the person. If a person does not have enough antibodies to fight it off, the skin around the injection will become red and swollen, indicating a positive result. This swelling disappears after a few days. If the person has immunity, then little or no swelling and redness will occur, indicating a negative result.

Results can be interpreted as:

1. Positive: when the test results in a wheel of 5–10 mm diameter
2. Pseudo-positive: when there is only a red colored inflammation and it disappears rapidly
3. Negative reaction:
4. pseudo negative reaction:

[edit] References

• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 20th Ed. (2005).