Latex agglutination and adenoviruses. I. Detection of polyclonal antibodies by latex agglutination test.

A latex agglutination (LA) test was developed for the detection and measurement of polyclonal anti-adenovirus antibodies. Latex particles, coated with purified hexon, penton or fibre antigens displayed specific agglutination with 21 rabbit immune sera directed against the different antigens and the complete virus of 10 human and 2 animal adenovirus types. The sensitivity of LA was compared to that of passive haemagglutination, complement fixation (CF) and immunodiffusion reactions. In experiments with immune sera as well as with human serum samples the sensitivity of LA test proved to be in the same range as that of CF test. Because of its easy and rapid performance (slide agglutination within 4 min) LA method may substitute for CF reaction in serological adenovirus diagnosis.