Application of counterimmunoelectrophoresis in rapid detection of cytomegalovirus antibodies.

Determination of cytomegalovirus antibodies by counterimmune-electrophoresis correlated well with results of complement-fixation antibody studies. The sensitivity and specificity of the counterimmunoelectrophoresis method (vs. complement fixation) was 88.9%. Fourfold antibody increases detected by complement fixation were also detected by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. In addition, no cross-reaction was observed in the counterimmunoelectrophoresis assay between other DNA viral antisera and cytomegalovirus antigen (Ad-169).