Indirect hemagglutinating antibody response to Herpesvirus hominis types 1 and 2 in immunized laboratory animals and in natural infections of man.

Indirect hemagglutinating (IHA) antibody responses to Herpesvirus hominis types 1 and 2 (HVH-1 and HVH-2) were compared to complement-fixing and neutralizing antibody responses in immunized laboratory animals (rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters) and in natural infections of man. With the immunized animals, type specificity was seen only in the IHA test and only with antisera produced in hamsters and in the rabbits immunized with HVH-2. In human nongenital infections (considered to be caused predominately by HVH-1), IHA and neutralizing antibodies developed at about the same rate and reached approximately the same levels for HVH-1 and HVH-2. IHA titers tended to be higher than neutralizing antibody titers for both virus types. In genital infections (considered to be caused predominately by HVH-2), there was a rapid IHA antibody response to HVH-2, and the early HVH-2 antibody demonstrable by IHA, but not by neutralization tests, was found to be immunoglobulin M in nature. In genital infections, IHA titers for HVH-2 were markedly higher than neutralization titers, but there was no pronounced difference in neutralizing the IHA antibody titers for HVH-1. Several patients with genital infections fialed to develop IHA antibody for HVH-1. The IHA test possessed no greater sensitivity than did complement fixation or neutralization tests for serodiagnosis of HVH infections. Despite the fact that a number of patients with genital infections produced IHA antibody only for HVH-2, the test was no more effective than the neutralization test in providing a type-specific serodiagnosis of infection, due largely to the fact that the rapid IHA antibody response to HVH-2 prevented demonstration of a further, significant antibody titer increase in a number of cases.