title: A highly specific ELISA for diagnosis of 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infections.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Accurate and timely diagnosis is vital for the clinical management of influenza. A 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1)-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was tested with selected clinical samples.
  
  
  METHODS
  A selection of 90 throat swab samples with various viral loads of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) were tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction as a gold standard, the overall sensitivity (0.57) was higher than that of the QuickVue Influenza A+B Test (0.43). The specificity of the ELISA was 1.0 using the selected sample set. The positive and negative predictive values were 1 and 0.4, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ELISA is an easy to perform, highly specific, and fairly sensitive diagnostic tool for the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infections. A strong correlation was found between viral load and specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Yi
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Luan-Yin
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Pei-Jer
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ning-Shao
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Pei-Lan
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Li-Min
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology; D010614:Pharynx / Q000821:virology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019562:Viral Load