Cold Agglutinins

Why It Is Done

The cold agglutinins test may be done to:

• See whether high cold agglutinin levels are causing autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
• Find pneumonia caused by mycoplasma. Over half of people with pneumonia caused by mycoplasma develop an increase in cold agglutinin levels in their blood within a week of being infected. Newer tests for mycoplasma pneumonia have replaced the cold agglutinins blood test.

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Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS	Last Updated: June 12, 2008
Medical Review:	Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine W. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease
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