Serologic and molecular biologic methods for SARS-associated coronavirus infection, Taiwan.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has raised a global alert since March 2003. After its causative agent, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), was confirmed, laboratory methods, including virus isolation, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and serologic methods, have been quickly developed. In this study, we evaluated four serologic tests ( neutralization test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], immunofluorescent assay [IFA], and immunochromatographic test [ICT]) for detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV in sera of 537 probable SARS case-patients with correlation to the RT-PCR. With the neutralization test as a reference method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 98.2%, 98.7%, 98.7%, and 98.4% for ELISA; 99.1%, 87.8%, 88.1% and 99.1% for IFA; 33.6%, 98.2%, 95.7%, and 56.1% for ICT, respectively. We also compared the recombinant-based western blot with the whole virus-based IFA and ELISA; the data showed a high correlation between these methods, with an overall agreement of >90%. Our results provide a systematic analysis of serologic and molecular methods for evaluating SARS-CoV infection.
Wu
Ho-Sheng
HS
Center for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Chiu
Shu-Chun
SC
Tseng
Tsan-Chang
TC
Lin
Szu-Fong
SF
Lin
Jih-Hui
JH
Hsu
Yu-Hen
YH
Wang
Mei-Ching
MC
Lin
Tsuey-Li
TL
Yang
Wen-Zieh
WZ
Ferng
Tian-Lin
TL
Huang
Kai-Hung
KH
Hsu
Li-Ching
LC
Lee
Li-Li
LL
Yang
Jyh-Yuan
JY
Chen
Hour-Young
HY
Su
Shun-Pi
SP
Yang
Shih-Yan
SY
Lin
Shih-Yan
SY
Lin
Ting-Hsiang
TH
Su
Ih-Sen
IS
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002845:Chromatography; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D011994:Recombinant Proteins