Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for evaluation of immunity to measles virus.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the determination of immunity to measles virus was developed and standardized; it was compared to the hemagglutination inhibition and plaque reduction neutralization methods for sensitivity and specificity. The conditions of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were adjusted such that groups of susceptible and immune individuals were clearly separable on the basis of the reactivity of a single (1:100) dilution of their sera to viral and control antigens. The range of values corresponding to susceptibility and immunity was defined by using the distribution of values observed from testing sera obtained from susceptible and immune control groups. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was then applied in a study of measles vaccinees and found to be more sensitive than the hemagglutination inhibition method and equal in sensitivity to the plaque reduction neutralization method. The three methods were equal in specificity. Thus, the measles virus enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is a rapid, reproducible, sensitive, and specific method for screening for the presence of measles antibody.