COMPARISON OF 3 MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY POOLS FOR THE DETECTION OF RESPIRATORY VIRAL-ANTIGEN IN RESPIRATORY SECRETIONS

The aim of this study was to compare the sensitivities of commercial m onoclonal antibody pools to be used as an initial rapid screen for det ection of viral antigens in respiratory secretions. The availability o f commercial monoclonal antibodies has dramatically improved the detec tion of viruses by immunofluorescence techniques in exfoliated cells o btained from respiratory secretions. Several companies have recently i ntroduced monoclonal antibody pools to detect the presence of respirat ory viruses in a single preparation. Ninety-four stored slide preparat ions that had previously been examined by individual monoclonal antibo dies were tested using three commercial monoclonal antibody pools prod uced by Sanofi (UK), Dako (UK), and Quadratech (UK). These monoclonal antibody pools had a sensitivity of 79.6%, 90.9%, and 100%. respective ly, when compared with the original results. The overall intensity of immunofluorescence was also examined.