Detection of Cytomegalovirus Antibody by Immune Adherence Hemagglutination

Summary The principle of complement-mediated immune adherence was applied to development of an immune adherence he-magglutination (IAHA) assay for antibody to cytomegalovirus (anti-CMV). Compared to complement fixation (CF), IAHA was two to eight times more sensitive for the detection of anti-CMV. In paired serum samples from multiply transfused patients, the concordance between rises in anti-CMV titers detected by CF and IAHA was 0.671 (P < 0.001). Convalescent titers measured by IAHA were significantly higher than those determined by CF in serum pairs in which anti-CMV rises were demonstrated by both techniques, and IAHA more commonly revealed anti-CMV in pretransfusion serum samples. No difference was noted between the kinetics of CF and IAHA antibody development after transfusion. Immune adherence hemagglutination, we conclude, is an efficient, sensitive alternative to CF for the detection of anti-CMV. The authors thank Mrs. Virginia L. Frye for preparing the typescript, and Dr. David W. Ailing for assistance with statistical evaluation.