Enzyme Immuno Assay (ELISA) for the determination of IgM class antibodies to Cytomegalovirus or CMV in human plasma and sera with the \"capture\" system. The kit is intended for the follow-up of CMV infected patients and the monitoring of the risk of neonatal defects due to CMV infection during pregnancy.

Introduction

Cytomegalovirus or CMV is an ubiquitous human pathogen, whose infection is particular prevalent among children and young adults. Infections by CMV continue to be an important health problem in certain patient populations, such as newborns, graft recipients of solid organs or bone marrow and AIDS patients. In these groups CMV is a major cause of morbility and mortality.

The detection of virus-specific IgG and IgM antibodies is of great value in the diagnosis of acute/primary virus infections or reactivation of a latent one, in the absence of typical clinical symptoms.

Asymptomatic infections usually happen for CMV in apparently healthy individuals, during pregnancy and several diseases as a co-infective agent.

Recently developed IgM capture ELISA’s for CMV of new generation, taking advantage of CMV specific synthetic antigens, provide the clinician with a powerful and reliable diagnostic test, not affected by rheumatoid factor, for the monitoring of “risk” population.

Principle of the Method

The assay is based on the principle of \"IgM capture\" where IgM class antibodies in the sample are first captured by the solid phase coated with anti hIgM antibody.