Evaluation of commercial herpes simplex virus IgG and IgM enzyme immunoassays

Abstract

Serological methods are used widely for the determination of herpes simplex virus (HSV) IgG and IgM antibodies in virological laboratories. The present study evaluates the automated performance of the Virion\\Serion (Würzburg, Germany) and Orgentec (Mainz, Germany) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for the determination of HSV type-common and type-specific IgG and IgM antibodies. Two hundred sixty-three sera from HSV-negative children, healthy blood donors as well as patients without and with acute HSV infections were included. The Serion ELISAs classic HSV 1+2, HSV 1 and HSV 2 IgG showed sensitivities between 89.1% and 98.0% and specificities from 82.8% to 100%. Sensitivities of the Orgentec ELISAs Anti-HSV-1 and Anti-HSV-2 IgG were calculated as 91.0–96.0% and 88.5–95.4% accompanied by specificities between 93.1% and 100%. The HSV type-common Serion IgM ELISA revealed also a high sensitivity and specificity. However, the single-type HSV-1 and HSV-2 IgM ELISAs from both companies did not detect reliably HSV-1- and HSV-2-specific IgM antibodies. In conclusion, the automated performance of Serion ELISAs classic HSV 1+2, HSV 1 and HSV 2 IgG as well Orgentec ELISAs Anti-HSV-1 and Anti-HSV-2 IgG provide highly dependable results for identifying HSV-1 and HSV-2 IgG-positive or -negative individuals. While HSV type-common IgM ELISAs can be useful to confirm acute newly acquired HSV infections, the use of single-type IgM ELISAs on the basis of whole-virus antigen is dispensable.