Comparison of measles virus-specific antibody titres as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus neutralisation assay

We assessed whether measles virus-specific antibody levels in the Dutch population as estimated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were comparable with estimates by virus neutralisation assay (NT), prompted by a relatively low ELISA seroprevalence in the 10–21-year-old group. We tested 791 sera from individuals aged 2–49 years both in ELISA and NT. Seroprevalence in the 10–21-year-old group was 93.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 89.5–97.2%) in ELISA versus 97.2% (CI 94.7–99.6%) in NT. There was good agreement between NT and ELISA seroprevalences in the vaccinated 2–9-year-olds and the unvaccinated 22–49-year-olds.