Determination of antibodies to rubella virus with the disperse dye immunoassay (DIA) in comparison with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

A disperse dye immunoassay (DIA) using Fantagen-dye sol particles as label was developed for the measurement of rubella antibodies in human serum specimen. The DIA has a sensitivity comparable to the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test, whereas the detection limit for a similar ELISA-system developed in parallel is lower by a factor of about two orders of magnitude. The results of testing 34 random serum specimens with the 3 different methods showed a significant correlation (v = 0.73 for DIA vs. ELISA). Titer rises in 10 paired sera (acute/convalescent) estimated with the DIA- and ELISA-methods were in good agreement with H1-results. Only two of the 10 pairs differed in titer rise by no more than one dilution step.