Febrile/cold agglutinins

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Blood test

Overview

Risks

Results

Febrile/cold agglutinins

Alternative Names:

Cold agglutinins; Weil-Felix reaction; Widal's test

Normal Values:

Warm agglutinins: no agglutination in titers at or below 1:80
Cold agglutinins: no agglutination in titers at or below 1:16

What abnormal results mean:

Elevated levels of cold or warm agglutinins can cause hemolytic anemia. Some patients with moderately elevated levels will have no hemolysis and likely won't require therapy.

The presence of warm agglutinins may occur with:

Infections, including brucellosis, rickettsial disease, salmonella infection, and tularemia
Lymphoma
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Medications, including methyldopa, penicillin, and quinidine

The presence of cold agglutinins may occur with:

Infections, especially Mycoplasma pneumonia. Also after viral, staphylococcal, and malaria infection.
Cancer, including lymphoma and multiple myeloma
Systemic lupus erythematosus

Review Date: 4/20/2005
Reviewed By: Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Rheumatology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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