title: Varicella zoster virus antibody detection: A comparison of four commonly used techniques.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antibody tests for the varicella zoster virus (VZV) include neutralization, fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen (FAMA), immune adherence hemagglutination (IAHA), enzyme immunoassay (EIA), glycoprotein-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (gpELISA), and complement fixation (CF) tests. Of these, FAMA is considered the most sensitive. However, in Japan, the EIA method is most frequently employed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The VZV antibody detection rate of the FAMA, EIA, gpELISA, and IAHA methods was compared.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four types of antibody tests were conducted with sera collected from 83 college students. The relationships between two antibody tests were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 83 subjects were observed to be VZV antibody-positive using the FAMA method. The Pearson correlation coefficients of gpELISA, EIA, and IAHA relative to FAMA were 0.808, 0.782, and 0.356, respectively. The positive agreement rate of IAHA relative to FAMA was 88.0% (73/83), whereas those of gpELISA and EIA were both 97.6% (81/83). Furthermore, EIA showed 100% positive agreement with gpELISA and a high correlation coefficient of 0.911, whereas these values for IAHA compared to gpELISA were much lower (90.1% and 0.530). The calculated Pearson correlation coefficient for comparison of the EIA and IAHA methods was 0.498, with a positive agreement rate of 90.1% (73/81).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EIA method should be employed in Japan based on the similarity of the positivity between EIA and gpELISA, as it is more available and practical than gpELISA.
authors: Department of Public Health, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
authors: Naruhito
authors: N
authors: Otani
authors: Kanonji Institute, The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Kanonji, Kagawa, Japan.
authors: Miyuki
authors: M
authors: Tanaka
authors: Kanonji Institute, The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Kanonji, Kagawa, Japan.
authors: Kazuhiro
authors: K
authors: Maeda
authors: Kanonji Institute, The Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, Kanonji, Kagawa, Japan.
authors: Yasuyuki
authors: Y
authors: Gomi
authors: Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
authors: Kazuhiko
authors: K
authors: Nakajima
authors: Department of Public Health, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
authors: Susumu
authors: S
authors: Tanimura
authors: Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
authors: Yoshio
authors: Y
authors: Takesue
authors: Department of Public Health, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
authors: Masayuki
authors: M
authors: Shima
authors: Department of Microbiology, Hyogo College of Medicine, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan. Electronic address: tmokuno@hyo-med.ac.jp.
authors: Toshiomi
authors: T
authors: Okuno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D003168:Complement Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral
keywords: Antibody; EIA; FAMA; Vaccine; Varicella zoster virus