Comparative detection of measles and rubella IgM and IgG derived from filter paper blood and serum samples*†

Abstract

We compared the use of serum and filter paper blood spots as specimen sources for the detection of measles- and rubella-specific IgM and IgG. We collected capillary blood into microtainer tubes and onto filter paper spots from 60 children and 60 healthy adults. The blood was collected from 12-15-month-old children approximately 3 weeks after primary vaccination with measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, and the sample-pairs were tested for measles-specific IgM and IgG antibodies by using a capture antibody EIA and an indirect EIA, respectively. We tested sample-pairs from a subset of participants for rubella- specific IgM and IgG antibodies by using commercially available capture IgM (Captia) and indirect IgG (Wampole) assays. The concordance of results from serum and filter paper blood spots was high for all assays: 98% for measles IgM, 93% for measles IgG, 94% for rubella IgM, and 93% for rubella IgG, and increased to between 96-100% for all four assays when indeterminate samples were excluded. The correlation coefficients for EIA signals were 0.99 and 0.77 for measles IgM and IgG, respectively, and 0.92 and 0.94 for rubella IgM and IgG, respectively. The cut-off values used for filter paper samples were the same as those used for serum samples for all tests except for the rubella IgM assay. The use of filter paper blood spots is a promising future option for the detection of measles- and rubella-specific antibodies.

Using improved technology for filter paper-based blood collection to survey wild Sika deer for antibodies to hepatitis E virus

“…Published procedures for extracting dried blood from filter paper have differed greatly and often have not included quantification of the amount of blood absorbed or retained by the filter paper (De Swart et al, 2001;Helfand et al, 2001;Jafri et al, 1998;Oppelaar, 1966). Because of the lack of a standardized procedure for processing blood-impregnated filter paper discs, a simplified collection and elution procedure was developed for this study.…”

The Challenges and Strategies for Laboratory Diagnosis of Measles in an International Setting

“…Work with filter paper blood spot samples is also proceeding well [40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. Similar to oral fluid samples, the sensitivity and specificity of detection of measles-specific IgM and IgG by EIA from filter paper blood spots compared with serum samples appears to be relatively high [40,47,48].…”

“…It also appears that viral genome can be detected successfully by RT-PCR from blood eluted from the filter paper blood spots [47,49,50]. There are several advantages of filter paper blood collection: It does not require a cold chain for long periods before processing as long as the samples are kept in low humidity; the sample appears to work for testing in different measles-specific IgM and IgG assays, including a commercial assay with good sensitivity and specificity [40,47,48], although the reconstitution methods need to be optimized; and the same sample can probably be used for rubella testing.…”

Update on the Global Distribution of Genotypes of Wild Type Measles Viruses

“…An important activity of the laboratory network will be to develop methods to improve measles surveillance in remote areas. In particular, establishing protocols for collection of specimens that can be stored and transported at ambient temperature, such as the dried blood spots on filter paper [63][64][65], will facilitate expansion of laboratory-based surveillance to areas that lack the infrastructure to use standard methods.…”