Abstract
Serologic cross-reactivity between orthopoxviruses is a substantial barrier to laboratory diagnosis of specific orthopoxvirus infections and epidemiologic characterization of disease outbreaks. Historically, time-consuming and labor-intensive strategies such as cross-adsorbed neutralization assays, immunofluorescence assays, and hemagglutination-inhibition assays have been used to identify orthopoxvirus infections. We used cross-adsorption to develop a simple and quantitative postadsorption ELISA for distinguishing between monkeypox and vaccinia infections. Despite the difficulty of diagnosing clinically inapparent monkeypox in previously vaccinated persons, this technique exhibited 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for identifying clinically overt monkeypox infection irrespective of vaccination history. We also describe a Western blot technique in which up to 3 diagnostic bands may be used to distinguish between vaccinia and monkeypox infection. The techniques described provide independent diagnostic tests suitable for retrospective analysis of monkeypox outbreaks.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 592-599 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Emerging infectious diseases |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2008 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases