The Hemagglutination Inhibition Test for Rubella: A Comparison of Its Sensitivity to That of Neutralization, Complement Fixation and Fluorescent Antibody Tests for Diagnosis of Infection and Determination of Immunity Status

Abstract

The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test for rubella was compared to neutralization, complement fixation (CF) and indirect fluorescent antibody (FA) tests for sensitivity in the serodiagnosis of infection and detection of antibody elicited by past infection (determination of immunity status). The FA and HI tests were the most sensitive techniques for demonstration of significant antibody titer rises in rubella infections, and the combination of the HI and CF tests was the most useful for serodiagnosis. CF antibodies appear more slowly than do HI antibodies, and significant increases in CF antibody may be demonstrated in certain instances in which HI antibody has reached maximum levels at the time the acute-phase serum is collected. Levels of HI antibody produced by rubella infection were higher than those demonstrated in the three other test systems. Correlation between the presence or absence of HI and neutralizing or fluorescent antibody was good, and the HI test was found to be as sensitive as these two tests for determination of immunity status to rubella.