Detection of serum interferon-alpha by dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluoroimmunoassay. Studies of patients with acute viral and bacterial infections.
A sensitive dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluoroimmunoassay (DELFIA) was evaluated for ability to detect interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in serum of patients with acute infectious disease of less than one week's duration and a fever of > 38 degrees C. None of 36 patients with confirmed or probable bacterial disease was IFN-alpha positive. In contrast, 13/26 patients with viral infections had detectable levels of IFN-alpha in serum, all clearly positive (> or = 10 U/ml). The IFN-alpha positive serum samples were obtained early after onset of clinical disease, after a mean of 2.4 days. The IFN-alpha positive samples were obtained from 10 of the 12 patients with influenza or flu-like infection, and 3 of the 5 patients with varicella or herpes zoster. The IFN-alpha negative patients with viral disease (n = 9) included five patients with mononucleosis. The DELFIA should be useful in further studies of the value of IFN-alpha determinations in the identification of acute viral infections.
Rönnblom
L E
LE
Department of Internal Medicine, Central Hospital, Boden, Sweden.
Perers
A
A
Vallin
H S
HS
Eriksson
I
I
Osterlind
A
A
Cederblad
B
B
Alm
G
G
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D015200:Fluoroimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000097:blood*; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D051379:Mice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000097:blood*
D016898:Interferon-alpha; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth