[Value of the immunoenzyme method (ELISA) in determining serum and aqueous humor antiherpes immunoglobulin levels (apropos of 155 cases)].

Immuno-enzymatic assay of aqueous humor and serum antiherpetic antibodies was performed in 155 patients with all types of uveitis and with keratitis. Globulin levels were also determined in the two fluids, employing an original nephelometry-laser technique. This immuno-enzymatic technique, which possesses greater reliability, reproducibility, and sensitivity than passive hemagglutination, appears suitable for microassay in aqueous humor, and demonstrates the production of anti-herpes antibodies in this fluid to the exclusion of other specificity. Applying limits of at least 1/40e for H.A. antibody levels, and at least 10 for the immunity load coefficient, these antibodies could be demonstrated in half of the cases of clinically confirmed herpes, in one-third of clinically suspected cases, and in two intermediary cases of uveitis where no predictive signs of herpes were present. In contrast, specific antibodies were never detected in 70 cases of anterior or total uveitis. Measuring anti-herpes antibodies in aqueous humor and serum by the ELISA method, in association with immunity load coefficients determination in the two fluides, appears to be a very useful method for the future etiological diagnosis of anterior and intermediary uveitis when the etiology is uncertain but clinical signs suggest a possible herpetic origin.