Comparison of a commercial ELISA kit and a neutralization assay for assessment of humoral immunity to measles virus

Efficient control of measles apparently requires reimmunization of susceptibles. The classic techniques used for estimation of measles susceptibility, neutralization and hemeagglutination inhibition, are neither convenient nor exactly comparable when carried out in different laboratories. We have compared a one-dilution commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) to a classic neutralization test with respect to its ability to designate susceptibles as well as its ability to indicate post-reimmunization rises in measles antibody levels. A group of controls not deemed to require reimmunization was tested in parallel. The results indicate that the simple and standardized commercial assay may be able to substitute for the classic assays, which can only be carried out in specialized laboratories, when simple screening for persons with low levels of antibodies to measles or when evaluations of responses to (re)immunizations are required.