E(H) 8, p. 79], it was shown that immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies reactive with autoclave extracts of oral strains of B. melaninogenicus subsp. intermedius or B. asaccharolyticus could be detected in the sera of periodontally normal children and adults. The levels of antibody in these normal sera reactive with B. melaninogenicus subsp. intermedius were distinctly higher than those reactive with B. asaccharolyticus. In these pilot studies, it was also shown that patients with adult periodontitis had higher levels of antibodies to B. asaccharolyticus, but not to B. melaninogenicus subsp. inter

Fluoretec-M is a polyvalent conjugate used in direct fluorescent-antibody staining for identification of the Bacteroides asaccharolyticus-Bacteroides melaninogenicus group. The Fluoretec-M reagent detected all oral and nonoral test strains of B. melaninogaenicus subsp. intermedius, all test strains of B. melaninogenicus subsp. melaninogenicus, and the nonoral strains of B. asaccharolyticus. However, the Fluoretec-M polyvalent reagent and the monovalent conjugates which constitute Fluoretec-M did not detect the oral strains B. asaccharolyticus. The use of Fluoretec-M can therefore generate false-negative results in studies of specimens from oral cavity and from nonoral sites in which an infection with B. asacacharolyticus of oral origin may have taken place. It is suggested that antibodies reactive with the oral antigenic type of B. asaccharolyticus be included in the preparative procedure of the Fluoretec-M reagent.

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