Recent rubella virus infection indicated by a low avidity of specific IgG

Abstract

Rubella-specific IgG in acute-phase sera produces a characteristically altered zone termed “soft hemolysis” in the radial hemolysis test. Here, the soft hemolysis was shown to be a product of the purified IgG₁ subclass isolated from acute-phase sera. In contrast, ordinary hemolysis was produced by IgG₁ isolated from sera of previous rubella immunity, indicating that the subclass composition of IgG was not involved in the mechanism of soft hemolysis. A novel type of solid-phase immunoassay was developed for the avidity of virus-specific IgG. Acute-phase IgG (with soft hemolysis) was dissociated from rubella antigen in an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test by hydrogen-bond disrupting agents under conditions where IgG of previous immunity (showing ordinary hemolysis) remained mostly bound. These data suggest that the mechanism of soft hemolysis is the avidity of rubella-specific IgG. The new quantitative avidity EIA was tested with sera taken from 169 subjects. Recent infection could be shown from sera taken weeks or months after primary rubella.