EVALUATION OF 4 COMMERCIAL ENZYME IMMUNOASSAYS FOR DETECTION OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN-M ANTIBODIES TO HUMAN PARVOVIRUS B19

Four commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for the detection of parvov irus B19-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies [Biotrin Parvoviru s B19 IgM (Biotrin International, Ireland); Parvoscan B19 IgM (Euro-Di agnostica, Sweden); Parvovirus IgM (Immunobiological Laboratories [IBL ], Germany); and human parvovirus B19 IgM (Hillcrest Biologicals, USA) ] were compared to indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and polymer ase chain reaction (PCR), Using IFA as the reference test, high sensit ivities (greater than or equal to 97%) were observed with all four EIA s, though the specificities of the Biotrin and IBL EIAs (99% and 96% r espectively) were significantly higher than those of the Hillcrest and Euro-Diagnostica EIAs (81% and 79% respectively).