title: Evaluation of the first commercial chikungunya virus indirect immunofluorescence test.
abstract: The chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus of the genus Alphavirus, family Togaviridae, is mainly transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. It causes an acute infection, characterized by high fever, polyarthralgia and rash and was responsible for a major outbreak which started in 2005 and spread over many islands of the south western Indian Ocean before it hit the Indian subcontinent. As nucleic acid amplification can be used only during the viremic period, serological tests are most widely used for the diagnosis of CHIKV infections. CHIKV IgM and IgG antibodies can be detected as soon as 3-6 days after clinical onset, respectively. Presently only in-house ELISA and immunofluorescence tests exist for analysing the CHIKV specific immune response. The first commercial indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) (EUROIMMUN AG, Lüebeck, Germany) was evaluated using two sera panels of patients from La Reunion and travellers returning with CHIKV infections from the Indian Ocean region. The IgM IIFT shows a specificity of 98.3% and a sensitivity of 96.9%. The specificity and sensitivity for the IgG IIFT are 100.0% and 95.4%, respectively. This commercial IIFT is a valuable tool for the diagnosis of CHIKV infections and antibody seroprevalence studies.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biological Safety (ZBS-1), Robert Koch-Institut, Nordufer 20, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Litzba
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schuffenecker
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeller
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drosten
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emmerich
authors.forename: Remi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Charrel
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kreher
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niedrig
mesh_terms: D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D002646:Chikungunya virus / Q000276:immunology*; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M