External quality assessment on TORCH immunoassay in China

Abstract

Objective To evaluate performance of the clinical laboratories for detection of TORCH immunoassay. Methods There were 2 times external quality assessment (EQA) for nuclear antibody detection. Each panel consisting of 5 liquid serum samples were distributed. Each participants of the EQA program had to reply the results, the methodological procedure and the kits. All data were analyzed and then provided to all laboratory in our EQA program. Results In 2007, the rate of good response were more than 80% for HSV immunoglobulin-M, Rubella immunoglobulin-M and CMV immunoglobulin-M. Response for Toxo immunoglobulin-M was poor (53.1%). The sensitivities of the commercial kits were quite low (<80%). Some clinical laboratories using the same kits gave quite different S/CO value. Conclusions A lot of clinical laboratories get good score in TORCH detection external quality program. False negative is the major problem. Key words: Quality control assessment; Toxoplasmosis; Rubella virus; Cytomegalovirus; Herpes simplex virus