Qualitative Variation among Commercial Immunoassays for Detection of Measles-Specific IgG

Abstract

Measurement of measles virus-specific IgG is used to assess presumptive evidence of immunity among immunocompetent individuals with uncertain immune or vaccination status. False-negative test results may lead to unnecessary quarantine and exclusion from activities such as employment, education, and travel or result in unnecessary revaccination. In contrast, false-positive results may fail to identify susceptible individuals and promote spread of disease by those who are exposed and unprotected. To better understand the performance characteristics of tests to detect measles IgG, we compared five widely used, commercially available measles IgG test platforms using a set of 223 well-characterized serum samples.