Evaluation of two commercially available ELISAs for the diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis applied to field samples

Lewthwaite, Penny; Shankar, M. Veera; Tio, Phaik-Hooi; Daly, Janet; Last, Anna; Ravikumar, R.; Desai, Anita; Ravi, V.; Cardosa, Jane M.; Solomon, Tom

Abstract

Objective To compare two commercially available kits, Japanese Encephalitis-Dengue IgM Combo ELISA (Panbio Diagnostics) and JEV-CheX IgM capture ELISA (XCyton Diagnostics Limited), to a reference standard (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak – Venture Technologies VT ELISA).

Methods Samples were obtained from 172/192 children presenting to a site in rural India with acute encephalitis syndrome.

Results Using the reference VT ELISA, infection with Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) was confirmed in 44 (26%) patients, with central nervous system infection confirmed in 27 of these; seven patients were dengue seropositive. Of the 121 remaining patients, 37 (31%) were JEV negative and 84 (69%) were JEV unknown because timing of the last sample tested was <10 day of illness or unknown. For patient classification with XCyton, using cerebrospinal fluid alone (the recommended sample), sensitivity was 77.8% (59.2–89.4) with specificity of 97.3% (90.6–99.2). For Panbio ELISA, using serum alone (the recommended sample), sensitivity was 72.5% (57.2–83.9) with specificity of 97.5% (92.8–99.1). Using all available samples for patient classification, sensitivity and specificity were 63.6% (95% CI: 48.9–76.2) and 98.4% (94.5–99.6), respectively, for XCyton ELISA and 75.0% (59.3–85.4) and 97.7% (93.3–99.2) for Panbio ELISA.

Conclusion The two commercially available ELISAs had reasonable sensitivities and excellent specificities for diagnosing JEV.

Citation

Lewthwaite, P., Shankar, M. V., Tio, P.-H., Daly, J., Last, A., Ravikumar, R., Desai, A., Ravi, V., Cardosa, J. M., & Solomon, T. (2010). Evaluation of two commercially available ELISAs for the diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis applied to field samples. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 15(7), 811-818. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02537.x

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 11, 2010
• Publication Date: 2010-07
• Deposit Date: Mar 9, 2025
• Journal: Tropical Medicine and International Health
• Print ISSN: 1360-2276
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-3156
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 811-818
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02537.x
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/46456813
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02537.x