Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




ELISA Detects Measles-Specific IgG In Dried Blood Spots

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 19 Aug 2015
A novel technique for measuring measles-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) in capillary dried blood spots (DBS) using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been validated.

There are many poor, remote areas in Mesoamerica where little is known about population immunity to measles but this data can be significantly enhanced by measuring anti-measles antibody titers, preferably using DBS which are minimally invasive and affordable.

Scientists at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA) working with their colleagues from Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua, tested a new method for analyzing DBS by comparing matched serum and DBS samples from 50 children. The accuracy, precision, and reliability of the procedure were evaluated, and the optimal cut points to classify positive and negative samples were determined. The method was then applied to 1,588 DBS collected during a large survey of children in Mexico and Nicaragua.

Serum samples were assayed for the presence of measles-specific IgG antibodies (family Paramyxoviridae, genus Morbillivirus, species Measles virus) using the HUMAN Worldwide Diagnostics Measles IgG ELISA kit (Wiesbaden, Germany). The plates were processed through a series of incubation, wash, and reaction steps, ultimately resulting in a color change. The degree of color development of each well, which is directly proportional to the measles IgG antibody concentration in the specimen, was measured spectrophotometrically on a Multiskan MS plate reader (Labsystems Diagnostics; Helsinki, Finland).

Measles-specific IgG in serum samples were 62% negative, 10% equivocal and 28% positive. In comparisons with matched serum, DBS results were 100% sensitive and 96.8% specific, and agreed in 46 of 50 (92%) cases. The seroprevalence of measles-specific IgG in the field study was 63.4% in Mexico and 50.7% in Nicaragua. The inter-assay and intra-assay coefficients of variation from kit-provided controls were greater than desired at 24.8% and 8.4%, respectively; however, in predictive simulations the average misclassification was only 3.9%.

The authors concluded that their study establishes that the applied commercial ELISA test can be used to categorize individuals as having measles-specific IgG through analyses of DBS. In support of this contention, this study found that measles-specific IgG values in DBS and matched serum samples were strongly linearly related, highly correlated, and nearly directly equal. Analyzing DBS collected in low-resources settings is a feasible and accurate means of measuring population immunity to measles and should be used to generate objective measures of health status and health system performance. The study was published in the September 2015 issue of the Journal of Medical Virology.

Related Links:

University of Washington 
HUMAN Worldwide Diagnostics 
Labsystems Diagnostics 



Gold Member
Pharmacogenetics Panel
VeriDose Core Panel v2.0
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Immunofluorescence Analyzer
MPQuanti
New
Silver Member
Total Hemoglobin Monitoring System
GREENCARE Hb
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.