Prevalence of anti-varicella zoster IgG antibody in undergraduate students.

Sera from 74 healthy Thai undergraduate students, mean age 21 + 1.7 years, were tested for the presence of IgG antibody against varicella zoster virus (anti-VZV IgG) by ELISA. Fifty-five of 74 (74.3%) individuals possessed anti-VZV IgG antibody. The presence of anti-VZV IgG was associated with a past history of varicella (p < 0.005, X2 = 33.4989). No sexual preponderance was observed. We therefore found that 1 of 4 Thai young adults was susceptible to VZV infection.

Comparative study of respiratory syncytial virus in nasopharyngeal aspirates using conventional cell culture, shell viral centrifugation culture, immunofluorescence and biotin-avidin enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.

133 nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were simultaneously tested for the presence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by conventional cell culture (CCC), shell vial centrifugation culture (SVC), immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and biotin-avidin enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (B-A ELISA). These yielded positive results in 32(24%), 45(33.8%), 36(27%) and 40(30%) of specimens, respectively. Specimens positive by IFA and B-A ELISA were all also positive by SVC. The sensitivity of CCC, IFA, and B-A ELISA comparing to SVC was 71%, 80%, and 88.9%, respectively. For rapid detection of RSV, we recommend the SVC method where a cell culture laboratory is available and the B-A ELISA method where a cell culture laboratory is not available.