Pj. Padula et al., Development and evaluation of a solid-phase enzyme immunoassay based on Andes hantavirus recombinant nucleoprotein, J MED MICRO, 49(2), 2000, pp. 149-155
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) with high mortality rate has been repor
ted in five countries in South America. Rapid accurate methods are importan
t both for monitoring acute infections and for epidemiological studies. The
Andes virus nucleoprotein amino acid sequence has a high identity percenta
ge compared with other sequences of this region and has been chosen for the
development of diagnostic reagents. Andes nucleoprotein expressed in Esche
richia coli was applied as antigen in IgG, IgA and mu-capture IgM enzyme-li
nked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), An evaluation of this reagent was condu
cted to establish its usefulness for differential diagnosis of HPS and sero
prevalence studies, Samples from 135 reverse transcription (RT)-PCR-confirm
ed HPS cases, 77 individuals with other respiratory infections and 957 heal
thy inhabitants from endemic and non-endemic areas were analysed, The hanta
virus-infected patients had an early and strong IgM, IgG and IgA serum anti
body response, in most of the cases as early as 1, 7 and 1 days following o
nset of symptoms, respectively. IgM and IgG detection showed a specificity
and sensitivity of 100%, Andes-specific IgM antibodies were found in all pa
tients in the first available sample, which remained detectable for at leas
t 43 days. Specific IgA antibodies were also detected in saliva of patients
with acute HPS, The short duration of the disease and the risk for contact
s due to person-to-person transmission of Andes virus necessitate the use o
f highly sensitive tests which might lead to earlier detection of infected
people and improve the treatment and management of patients with HPS.