Abstract
An antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with coxsackievirus B1 as the antigen was evaluated for detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM, and IgA antibodies and showed broad specificity for enteroviruses. In total, 116 serum or cerebrospinal fluid samples from 62 patients were tested by ELISA and the complement fixation test (CFT). Additionally, 15 serum samples that contained poliovirus-specific IgM antibody were tested. Serum samples from 200 healthy blood donors were used for standardization of the assays. The sensitivity of the ELISA varied with time of serum sampling, with a relatively low sensitivity when serum was collected within 3 days after the onset of symptoms (23%; 5 of 22) but good sensitivity when serum was collected later (83%; 20 of 24). The sensitivity was better than that of the CFT. The ELISAs were broadly reactive as concluded from typing of virus isolates that were simultaneously obtained. The assay did, furthermore, detect antibody against poliovirus type 3. Sera that contained rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody, or cardiolipin antibody (by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test) did not react in this ELISA. Nonspecific reactivity did occur, however, in cases of infectious mononucleosis and in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. The enterovirus-specific ELISA is found to be simple to perform, more sensitive than the CFT, and far less laborious than the neutralization test.