Four hundred and ninety two samples of serum from blood donors were screened for the presence of antibodies specific to cytomegalovirus using radioimmunoassay, a modified complement fixation test, and five commercially available tests: the Cetus CMV IHA, Abbott CMV total AB EIA, Cytomegalisa Stat EIA, Enzygnost EIA, and Virenz G-CMV EIA. A wide variation in results was found, with only 53.5% of the sera giving total concordance by all methods. Rates of seropositivity in the different tests ranged from 34.9% to 59.3%, with sensitivities ranging from 75.2% to 99.1% compared with the radioimmunoassay. Of 211 sera which gave positive results with four or more of the tests, none was negative by the radioimmunoassay and Abbott EIA, three were negative in Cetus IHA and Enzygnost EIA, and 11 were negative in the modified complement fixation test. Virenz G and Cytomegalisa Stat EIAs, however, gave 40 (19%) and 49 (23.2%), respectively, as negative. The results confirmed the reliability of the radioimmunoassay for the detection of the antibody status to CMV, but this test is too elaborate for a screening procedure. The Abbott EIA and Cetus IHA were found to be the most suitable for this purpose in spite of high false positive rates.

Antibodies, Viral↗

PubMed1984

Improving the varicella-zoster virus: IgG radioimmunoassay procedure by the use of purified antigen.

The indirect radioimmunoassay (RIA) for detecting and assaying IgG class antibodies against varicella-zoster virus (VZV) can be improved by simple purification of the viral antigen. This is achieved by reducing binding to cellular components present in crude antigens. The purified antigen is particularly useful for testing sera that either bind excessively to normal control antigen or give equivocal results when crude antigens are used.

Antibodies, Viral↗

PubMed1983

Hotting-up the complement-fixation test.

A detailed investigation into the effect of modifying the incubation temperature of the complement-fixation (CF) test is described. For varicella-zoster virus cytomegalovirus and rubella virus, increasing the incubation temperature progressively increased the sensitivity of the CF test to reach a maximum at 15 degrees C, at which temperature the geometric mean titre of seropositive samples was significantly greater than that found at 4 degrees C. For these three viruses, each serum shown to contain IgG antibodies by ultrasensitive radioimmunoassay procedures was detected by CF following incubation at 15 degrees C. No false-positive reactions occurred at 15 degrees C, but it was our impression that anticomplementary activity was enhanced at this temperature. Significant increases in antibody titre at 15 degrees C were also seen when measles virus, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae were employed as CF antigens. The results demonstrate that the CF test should be performed at 15 degrees C if optimum sensitivity is to be achieved. The ability of the test to detect significant rises in antibody titre was not impaired at the higher incubation temperature.

Adenoviridae↗

PubMed1975

A comparative study of methods used for removing non-specific inhibitors of rubella haemagglutination from human sera.

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Antibodies, Viral↗