Comparative study of peroxidase-labelled IgG and anti-IgG for the detection of measles virus antigens.

The immunoperoxidase and immunoblotting techniques were used to detect measles virus antigens in nasopharyngeal samples taken from children visiting the Yaounde Health Centre (Cameroon). In order to make these diagnostic tests simpler, faster and less costly, peroxidase-labelled anti-measles IgG were prepared and compared with commercially available peroxidase-labelled mouse anti-IgG. Measles antigens were detected by immunoperoxidase and immunoblotting with the same sensitivity, no matter which type of conjugate was used. Moreover, the anti-measles IgG permitted the reduction of the duration of the test by half.