Measurement of antibodies to varicella-zoster virus by using a latex agglutination test.

We evaluated a rapid, simple-to-perform assay for detecting antibodies to varicella-zoster virus by latex agglutination (LA); dilutions of test sera were added to latex particles coated with varicella-zoster virus antigen. We tested 878 serum specimens by LA and with fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen; of these, 227 were also tested by a commercially marketed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). LA was almost as sensitive as the fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen test and more sensitive than ELISA. No cross-reacting antibodies were detected by LA, and false-positive reactions were rare.