ABSTRACT
Four tests, a latex agglutination test [LA], two enzyme immunoassays [EIA], and an indirect fluorescent antibody [IFA] were compared for the detection of antibody against cytomegalovirus [CMV]. Blood samples that were obtained from 200 healthy Jordanian blood donors were used in this comparison. The latex agglutination test [Becton-Dickinson] was shown to be the best of all tests used, demonstrating a sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values of 100%. Abbott Enzyme immunoassay demonstrated high sensitivity [98.9%] but lower negative predictive value [83.3%] than the latex agglutination. Though demonstrating high sensitivity, Eurogenetics EIA and Electronucleonics IFA were less specific [80% and 60% respectively] and had lower negative predictive values [72.7% and 75% respectively]. Moreover, the latex agglutination ranked first in terms of other important considerations such as turnaround time, requirement for equipment, and technical demand. Testing of 598 additional blood samples obtained from healthy Jordanian blood donors by the Latex agglutination test revealed 578 positive samples. This indicates a prevalence of 96.7% of CMV infection among Jordanian blood donors