COMPARATIVE DETECTION OF MEASLES-SPECIFIC IGM IN ORAL FLUID AND SERUMFROM CHILDREN BY AN ANTIBODY-CAPTURE IGM EIA

In vaccinated populations, the diagnosis of measles often requires lab oratory confirmation, Serum tested by EIAs has proven sensitive and sp ecific for diagnosing measles, For comparison of detection of measles- specific IgM in oral fluid and serum samples by an antibody-capture EI A, 163 Ethiopian infants who presented for routine measles vaccination were studied, Paired serum and oral fluid samples were collected befo re and 2 weeks after vaccination; 269 paired samples were adequate for analyses, Of the 104 serum samples that were IgM-positive, 95 (91%) o f the paired oral fluid samples were IgM-positive, Of the 165 serum sa mples that were IgM-negative, 156 (95%) of the paired oral fluid sampl es were IgM-negative, The Pearson partial correlation coefficient for optical density readings from postvaccination oral fluid compared with serum was 0.81. Oral fluid appears to be an acceptable alternative to serum for measuring measles-specific IgM antibodies by an antibody-ca pture EIA.